Retired IPS officer gets promotion from Guj govt

Ahmedabad, May 3 (UNI) Retired senior IPS officer R B Sreekumar was promoted to the rank of Director General of Police by the state government as ordered by the Gujarat High Court.

The state Home Department issued a notification late last night after two reprimands from the High Court for not implementing its order issued in October last year.

Gujarat government had denied promotion to Mr Sreekumar as he did not fall in line with the Chief Minister Narendra Modi and had deposed before a inquiry commission, probing the 2002 Godhra carnage and subsequent riots, against the government's interests.

The IPS officer was denied the promotion in 2005 despite a ''clear and clean'' confidential report.

Spirited by his legal victory, Sreekumar has urged other fellow officers to fight the government for what is right.

He described his victory as a ''big victory against a dispensation that is vindictive and malafide''. Compared to victims of cases like Naroda Patia, who are still struggling, this delay is nothing, he remarked.

The battle of 'wit and will' between the IPS officer and Modi government started as a consequence of Mr Sreekumar's deposition in August 2004 against the government before the Nanavati-Shah Commission, which was inquiring into the 2002 Godhra carnage and subsequent riots. As a result, Mr Sreekumar was denied promotion in 2005 on the grounds that a 1987 case against him was pending.

However, not accepting government's explaination for denial of his promotion, Mr Sreekumar approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) that gave its ruling in his favour in September 2006.

But unhappy with the verdict, the state government then appealed against this order later in the High Court. However, Sreekumar ultimately won all cases.

UNI MP SSS KK KN1651