Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court has quashed a June 2023 charge-sheet filed by the Haryana Vigilance Bureau (VB) against eight Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officers in connection with irregularities in the selection of the 2001 batch.The ruling clears the path for the eight officers—Jagdeep Dhanda, Kuldhir Singh, Surinder Singh, Veena Hooda, Jag Niwas, Kamlesh Bhadu, Vatsal Vashisth, and Sarita Malik—to be elevated to the IAS cadre under the state’s promotion quota. In a detailed order, Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri observed that the officers’ names were incorporated into the charge-sheet despite having no connection to the original case. The court said they were never named as accused in the FIR, nor was any investigation conducted against them. “This court is satisfied that the presentation of the charge-sheet… was not in accordance with law and is illegal in nature,” Justice Puri said, setting aside the June 30, 2023, charge-sheet filed under Section 173 of CrPC. The original recruitment process, conducted by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC), was challenged in 2002 over allegations of nepotism. However, that writ petition remains pending. A separate 2005 FIR regarding the recruitment of assistant professors also failed to link the HCS officers to any wrongdoing. Senior advocates Gurminder Singh and Inder Pal Goyat argued that the 2023 charge-sheet was filed with mala fide intent to jeopardise the officers’ IAS nominations, which the state govt had sent to the UPSC in July 2022. Interestingly, during the hearing of the petition, the state govt conceded that the FIR pertained to assistant professors’ recruitment, and the petitioners were not named in the original FIR, and no independent investigation was conducted against them. MSID:: 128307859 413 |
