Setting aside Shankar M. Bidari's appointment as the head of the State police, the Karnataka High Court on Friday held that the selection process was vitiated since the report on atrocities against women and tribal people by the Special Task Force (STF), which he headed, was deliberately suppressed from the selection authorities.
‘No remorse ’
The Court asked whether the interests of women and tribal people were safe because Mr. Bidari had shown no remorse even today for the atrocities committed by STF personnel during the operations against poacher Veerappan.
“If the State has any respect for rule of law, womanhood, human rights, tribals, concern for the downtrodden, and the socially backward, they [State government] should relieve respondent three [Mr. Bidari] forthwith and appoint the applicant [A.R. Infant, senior-most IPS officer, who challenged Mr. Bidari's appointment] in his place. Otherwise, they [government] are answerable to people of the State,” said a Division Bench comprising Justice N. Kumar and Justice H.S. Kempanna, in its verdict.
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Initially, the Bench declined to pass any order giving a specific direction to the government to appoint Mr. Infant as ad hoc head of the police force. However, when the State government requested the Court to stay the operation of the verdict to enable it appeal to the Supreme Court, the Bench issued a direction that Mr. Infant be appointed to the post.
The verdict was delivered while dismissing petitions filed by the State government and Mr. Bidari challenging the March 16 order of the Central Administrative Tribunal.
The tribunal had set aside Mr. Bidari's selection and appointment with the finding that the National Human Rights Commission report on STF atrocities was not before the selection authorities when Mr. Bidari's name was included in the list of three senior IPS officers eligible for the position.