DPC finding of 2012 in IPS officer Sanjay Pandey case not correct: Central Administrative Tribunal

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), in a recent ruling, has held that the finding of the Department Promotion Committee (DPC) in 2012 that the 1986-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Sanjay Pandey, was unfit for promotion is 'not correct'.

Pandey had submitted before the tribunal that the move by the DPC was done with the malafide intention of promoting junior officers.
He will now move CAT seeking review of his case for promotion as additional director general of police (ADGP). Pandey, an upright IPS officer, had played a crucial role in exposing the multi-crore shoe scam, which resulted in the arrest of several high profile businessmen.

CAT member Arvind J. Rohee, in an order stated: "It is obvious that to become inspector general of police (IGP) from the post of deputy inspector general of police (DIG) at least four years of qualifying service as DIG is required in 18 years of the total service. However, since Sanjay Pandey was posted as DIG on December 15, 2011, he is yet to complete four years of actual service as DIG."

According to the ruling, Pandey has further contended that had he been promoted as DIG immediately or within a reasonable time after April 9, 2007 when the previous DPC approved his name, he would have completed the qualifying service of four years for being considered for the post of IG in 2011.

"However, as stated earlier, the annual confidential reports (ACR) for 2007-2011 are not available since he was on compulsory wait. It seems the ACR for the brief period from September 25, 2006 till he worked as joint commissioner, Vigilance, FDA in Mumbai is also not available. This being so, the view taken by the review DPC in considering Pandey unfit for promotion to the post of IG cannot be said to be correct," the ruling states.

"It is our considered views that having kept Pandey on compulsory wait for more than four and-a-half years from May 18, 2007 to December 15, 2011, for which he was not at fault, the government cannot hold the ground of non-availability of ACR against Pandey in the matter of his promotion. However, the question of Pandey's promotion to the post of additional director general of police rank will arise only after his promotion to the post of IGP. Therefore at this state we are not inclined to consider his prayer for the post of ADGP," the ruling states, asking the government to hold a fresh review DPC for considering promotion of Pandey to the post of IGP.

"It is now very clear that the government wanted to promote officers junior to me and hence the DPC found me unfit for promotion," said Pandey, who is presently working with the State Human Rights Commission.

"By the time CAT order came out, I had become an IGP. I am going to file a petition requesting the bench to review only the part of the judgement which said it could not grant me relief for promotion to the post of ADGP. IPS officers junior to me from the 1987 and 88 batches have already become ADGP," he said.

Who is Sanjay Pande
Sanjay Pandey, an IPS officer of 1986 batch, resigned from service in 2000 due to some personal problem. But due to some reason, his resignation was not accepted and he took it back after a year. He then approached CAT in 2003 and the tribunal, in 2005, ordered the state and central governments to reinstate him. Pandey graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology and has done a public administration course at Harvard.