Tells CAT that though govt has expunged adverse remark, he should be evaluated as ‘very good’.
IPS officer Rajnish Rai has maintained that he is eligible to get 'very good' remark for the period April 1-August 22, 2007, though the state government has expunged the adverse remark from his annual confidential report (ACR) for the same period. This was the time when Rai probed the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case and arrested three IPS officers.
The government communication on September 9 informed DIG-rank officer Rai that the adverse remark in his ACR had been deleted. The communication was produced before a bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) by Rai's counsels Mukul Sinha and KG Pillai.
"We informed the court about the government decision to expunge the adverse remark, but at the same time we reiterated our prayer made in the petition that Rai's performance should be evaluated as 'very good'," said Sinha.
"Rai's performance was downgraded only for the period when he probed the Sohrabuddin case and arrested three IPS officers. After that, he continuously got the 'very good' remark. The bench has admitted our plea and posted the case after three weeks to give the final decision," he said.
The bench consisting of MK Gupta and Ashok Kumar, on Tuesday, heard the petition filed by Rai, challenging the adverse remark and downgrading of his performance as 'average' from 'good' in his ACR for the period from April 1 to August 22, 2007.
The ACR was downgraded by his superior officers on the ground that Rai did not communicate the progress of the investigation to his seniors.
Rai's performance was first evaluated as 'good' by OP Mathur, then head of CID-Crime and the reporting authority of Rai. However, PC Pande, then DGP and reviewing authority, lowered the performance by putting 'average' remark, which was ultimately accepted by Balwant Singh, then home secretary.
Earlier, in April this year, the CAT bench had directed the state government to not take any adverse action over the ACR of Rai for the year 2007.
Rai, who cracked the Sohrabuddin encounter case, arrested three IPS officers in April 2007. Rai has narrated in his petition to CAT how Mathur and Pande were creating hurdles in the investigation process of Sohrabuddin case.
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