Durga Shakti Nagpal suspension case: Supreme Court dismisses PIL

New Delhi, Aug 16: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation(PIL) for reinstatement of suspended IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal.

The PIL had sought quashing of all proceedings against 2010 batch IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, who had cracked down on illegal sand mining in Gautam Budh Nagar area of Uttar Pradesh.

The bench headed by Justice H L Dattu dismissed the plea and said that it may entertain the petition if she (Nagpal) herself approaches the court.

The bench further said that the officer can take care of herself and can also approach the other authorities including a court, against her suspension order.

"The moment she approaches the court, we will hear her plea and we may pass an interim order," the bench said.

The PIL, filed by social activist Nutan Thakur on June 29, contended that the action taken against Durga was 'arbitrary, unconstitutional and malafide'.

The 28-year-old Sub-Divisional Magistrate was suspended on July 27 for reportedly ordering the demolition of the wall of an under-construction mosque in a village in Noida without following the due process.

On August 4, The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav led-SP government had served a chargesheet on Durga, asking her to submit an explanation for her conduct.

The Supreme Court also issued a notice to the UP government demanding an explanation as to why the renowned Dalit scholar- writer Kanwal Bharti, who had questioned suspension of Durga Shakti Nagpal by writing a post in Hindi on Facebook, by comparing it with an instance of demolition in Rampur at Azam Khan's behest, was arrested.

Meanwhile, the UP government remains 'defiant' on its decision to not revoke Durga's suspension even after huge opposition by all political parties.

Durga's husband transferred

Recently, the IAS officer and husband of Durga Shakti Nagpal, Abhishek Singh was also transferred by the UP government from Greater Noida to Jhansi.

Abhishek, a 2011 batch IAS officer, has been made the Joint Magistrate of Jhansi.

OneIndia News