Promotion of HCS officers: Eight officers facing trial not to be promoted till exonerated by court
Officials said that the eight HCS officers who are facing trial were included provisionally in the select list for appointment to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) by way of promotion. 'This, as per the central rules, means that they cannot be promoted to the IAS unless exonerated by the court,' said an official. A select list is a roll of officers recommended for induction into IAS.
Officials said that the selection committee also prepared a list of 18 HCS officers who are found suitable for promotion to the IAS. Thus, their names were included in the select list for appointment to the IAS. These included Vivek Padam Singh of 1997 batch, Munish Nagpal, Mahender Pal and Satpal Sharma of the 2002 batch, Sushil Kumar of 2003 batch, Varsha Khangwal, Virender Sehrawat, Satyender Duhan, Manita Malik, Satbir Singh, Amrita Singh, Yogesh Kumar, Vandana Disodia, Jaideep Kumar, Samwartak Singh Khangwal.
Criminal proceedings pending against 8 HCS officers
The state anti-corruption bureau (ACB) had on July 4, 2023 presented a chargesheet (under section 173 of the CrPC) in the court of Hisar sessions judge, Dinesh Kumar Mittal, arraigning these eight HCS officers of 2002 batch as accused. They are Veena Hooda, Surender Singh-1, Jagdeep Dhanda, Sarita Malik, Kamlesh Bhadoo, Kuldhir Singh, Vatsal Vashisht and Jag Niwas. They were arraigned in a case pertaining to alleged irregularities and malpractices by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) in the recruitment process of 2001 HCS and Allied Services (executive branch) examination. A total of 29 persons including six former HPSC functionaries, four allied services officers and nine paper checkers were also arraigned in the charge-sheet.
On a petition filed by one of the eight HCS officers facing trial, Jagdeep Dhanda, the Punjab and Haryana high court had on July 11 stayed the operation and effect of the charge sheet with regards to Dhanda. But the UPSC led selection committee did not consider Dhanda's case for appointment and decided to put his name in the select list as provisional along with his other batchmates.
Legal experts said that a mere stay by the court on the operation and effect of the charge sheet filed by ACB did not mean that the officer became eligible for appointment to IAS. 'The charge sheet has been stayed and not quashed by the high court. Surely, the trial will come to a halt. But promoting an officer on the basis of a stay by the court can create more complications like reverting the officer back to HCS if the stay is vacated by the high court,' said Punjab and Haryana high court lawyer, Sachin Jain.
Jain said the UPSC adopted the best way possible by keeping the name of the officer in the select list as provisional pending the outcome of the petition in HC or trial court.
Rule 5(5) of the IAS (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations stipulated that the name of an officer included in the list of officers will be treated as provisional if any departmental or criminal proceedings are pending against him. 'The proceedings shall be treated as pending only if a charge sheet has actually been issued to the officer or filed in a court,' reads the explanation to the Rule. Similarly, Rule 7(3) said that if an officer included in the select list is issued with a charge sheet or a charge sheet is filed against him in a court of law after his inclusion, then his name in the select list shall be deemed to be provisional. In a nutshell, it means that officers against whom criminal proceedings are pending cannot be considered for promotion to the IAS unless exonerated by the court.
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