Central Administrative Tribunal chides govt for harassing civil servant

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has chided the government for allegedly harassing a civil servant by dragging him into endless litigations, and said it looked like more of "persecution" than any genuine prosecution of the aggrieved officer.

"The procedural formalities to be followed while initiating action against a Class-I officer was pathetically insufficient. Obviously, the present steps have become persecution since even after one-and-half years, the proceedings are standing at the point they commenced," the tribunal, headed by vice chairman M Ramachandran, said.

The CAT passed the observation on a plea of an NFSG officer of Indian Statistical Service, Tushar Ranjan Mohanty, seeking quashing of order which charge-sheeted him for allegedly exceeding his power in giving clearance to a government servant from the vigilance angle.

"We note from the pleadings that Mohanty had been a party to numerous litigations. In no cases filed by him, the stand of the department has been upheld. It may even lead to an assumption that the powers have been practically misused, and he is made to spend his energy and funds for litigations.

"On the other hand, the department has nothing to lose.... The submission of the Standing Counsel that the proceedings will conclude after reaching their logical end, also might be rather revealing. We find that this is a very sorry situation," the tribunal said.