Former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy barely escaped from the embarrassment of resigning from his post, thanks to State Assembly elections in May 2016, LDF government in the State led by present Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the Supreme Court on Thursday.
The public clamour against the inefficiency shown by the police in investigating the Puttingal fire tragedy case, which left over 130 dead and over a 1000 injured, and the sensational Jisha murder was so pronounced that Mr. Chandy's position was increasingly shaky and the elections came in the nick of time and saved him from the ignominy of resigning his post, senior advocate Harish Salve for Kerala government told a Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Sanjay Kishan Kaul.
Mr. Salve said T.P. Senkumar had to in turn take the responsibility for the "public perception" of police inefficiency. The new government under Mr. Vijayan had to let him go. The Vijayan government had removed Mr. Senkumar as DGP within two days of coming to power and posted him as CMD of Kerala Police Housing and Construction Ltd.
"I was victimised. I was made a scapegoat by the Chief Minister. How was I responsible for something (Puttingal tragedy) that happened 100s of km away," senior advocate Dushyant Dave, for Mr. Senkumar, stressed.
"The general perception was that police was not doing anything. The captain has to go down with the ship," Mr. Salve reacted to Mr. Dave.
"Well, then let your captain (Pinarayi Vijayan) go down with the ship for the 13 political murders which has occurred in the past one year," Mr. Dave, assisted by advocate Haris Beeran, retorted.
"When the new government came, there was a hue and cry. The government had to act. He was not removed from service. Instead we transferred him to a senior post with equal emoluments," Mr. Salve submitted.
Mr. Dave said the Kerala government cannot justify that Mr. Senkumar had to take the fall on the basis of something as ephemeral and omnibus as "people's dissatisfaction".
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, also for Mr. Senkumar, argued that his client had a fixed tenure of two years as per the Prakash Singh judgment of the Supreme Court. He was appointed DGP in May 2015 and was ousted by the State government without even holding consultations with the State Security Commission.
Mr. Bhushan submitted that in case the court favours Mr. Senkumar and restores him as DGP, his term should be extended for the period he was ousted from the post of DGP.
The court ordered the Kerala government to file a detailed affidavit on whether the State government had the power to remove the DGP and if the power was "properly exercised" by the Vijayan government. The court scheduled the next hearing for April 10.
"This is a clear case of victimisation. The plan was to remove me and bring their own officer. I was appointed by the Congress party tenure in power. I have to say I serve the Constitution and and not any political party," Mr. Dave submitted.
