The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a public interest litigation petition seeking a direction to quash the order of suspension of Uttar Pradesh IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal and the charge sheet filed against her.
A Bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice Ranjana Desai posted the matter for hearing on August 12 after advocate Manohar Lal Sharma made a ‘mention’ and pleaded for early listing of the case.
The petitioner said the suspension order was unconstitutional, arbitrary and lowered the constitutional systems. Also, it was against orders of the Supreme Court.
On September 29, 2009, this court directed that henceforth no unauthorised construction should be carried out or permitted in the name of temple, church, mosque or gurdwara on public streets, parks or any other public place. All the States and Union Territories had taken necessary steps to ensure that no further unauthorised construction took place and the court’s directions were seriously and meticulously complied with, he said.
Ms. Nagpal was posted in Ghaziabad as the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in September 2012, and then got appointed as the SDM of Gautam Budh Nagar. When she visited Kadalpur village, she found encroachment on the government land and under political hand the construction of a mosque upon public land. She immediately stopped the construction work and directed the removal of the encroachment. Subsequently, she was victimised and suspended and charge-sheeted, the petition said.
Implementing the Supreme Court direction was not an offence and initiation of action against the IAS officer for performing her duty would amount to contempt of court, the petitioner noted. He sought a direction to quash the order dated July 28, passed by the Chief Minister, suspending Ms. Nagpal, and an interim stay of all further proceedings initiated against her.
