Sanjay Kundu back as Himachal Pradesh DGP; Supreme Court stays High Court order to shift him
Satya Prakash
New Delhi, January 3
Senior IPS officer Sanjay Kundu will be back as the DGP of Himachal Pradesh as the Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the High Court’s order to shift him from the top post.
A Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud also stayed the Himachal Government’s order shifting him as the Principal Secretary of the Ayush Department.
The Bench granted liberty to Kundu to move the High Court to seek recall of its December 26 order to the state government to shift him in view of allegations of interference in an ongoing criminal probe.
Noting that the direction for transfer of Kundu from the post of DGP would remain stayed until the recall application was disposed of, the Bench urged the High Court to dispose of such an application in two weeks.
The order came after senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi submitted on behalf of Kundu that the High Court passed the impugned order without hearing him.
Rohatgi had on Tuesday said the action against Kundu was “extraordinary” as the High Court did not hear him out before directing the state government to shift him.
Following the High Court’s order, the Himachal Pradesh Government had on Tuesday transferred Kundu to the Ayush Department as Principal Secretary.
Kundu has moved the Supreme Court against the High Court’s Order to shift him to ensure that he doesn’t influence the probe into the alleged harassment of Palampur businessman Nishant Sharma.
The Himachal Pradesh High Court had on December 26 ordered the state government to shift Kundu and Kangra Superintendent of Police Shalini Agnihotri to other posts before January 4, 2024, to ensure that “they didn’t have an opportunity to influence the investigation”.
Nishant had, in an email complaint to the High Court, alleged that he and his family feared for their lives as he was “attacked in Gurugram and in McLeodganj”. He had sought the High Court’s intervention on the grounds that he “needed protection from powerful people as he was living in constant fear of being killed”.
In a complaint to the High Court, Nishant had alleged threat to his life from “two extremely rich and well-connected persons, a former IPS officer and a lawyer, as the complainant and his father had not yielded to their pressure”.
The High Court, while maintaining that “exceptional circumstances did exist for its intervention”, said it was desirable that the DGP and the SP must be shifted out to “ensure fair investigation in the FIRs lodged in the case”.
Kundu had allegedly repeatedly attempted to contact the complainant on October 27 (15 missed calls) and had put the complainant under surveillance and filed FIR against him. He also filed a defamation case against the businessman on November 4, accusing him of attempting to malign his image.
