Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has stayed suspension of regional transport officer (RTO), Aligarh, Vandana in connection with a school bus accident that had led to the death of a child. The court has directed the state govt to file its counter affidavit within four weeks and listed the matter for hearing in the week commencing April 20. A bench of Justice Manish Mathur passed the interim order on a writ petition filed by the RTO , challenging the suspension order of Mar 1. The suspension was ordered in contemplation of a departmental inquiry following the Feb 28 incident in which the floor of a school bus had reportedly collapsed, resulting in the child’s death.Senior counsel Gaurav Mehrotra argued the RTO had no direct role in it. Inspection of vehicles was the responsibility of designated inspecting officers and not of the RTO and therefore no misconduct could be attributed to her, he said. tnnThe state counsel was unable to effectively rebut the petitioner’s arguments on key aspects. At this, the court said that the matter required detailed consideration.While staying the operation of the suspension order, the court clarified that there would be no bar on the continuation or conclusion of departmental inquiry proceedings against the petitioner.
