Ashok Kumar Parmar, a 1992-batch IAS officer has been imposed a cost of Rs one lakh by Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Jammu Bench for moving a petition against Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of J&K Manoj Sinha.
Parmar, who is serving as the chairman of Bureau of Public Enterprises, is retiring this month.
The Bench headed by judicial member Rajinder Dogra dismissed the petition observing that “Article 361(4) of the Constitution of India clearly says that there is immunity to the President of India and the Governors of the States who are holding Constitutional posts and they cannot be sued in any court of law and also no court can issue notice to these dignitaries while they are sitting in office”.
“In the instant case, the applicant has made Lieutenant Governor of J&K UT party by name. The applicant has also impleaded seven top officials as party. They are Rajiv Gauba, Cabinet Secretary, Union of India, Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Union Home Secretary, Radha Chauhan, Secretary DoPT, Shaleen Kabra, Financial Commissioner, Jal Shakti Department J&K, Arun Kumar Mehta, ex- Chief Secretary J&K and Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to Lt Governor J&K”, the CAT said.
CAT observations against Ashok Parmar
“The applicant who is seeking relief from the department has not arrayed it as party. The applicant has made these top officials as party along with Lt Governor by name to settle his personal scores. Even he has not sought the relief against some officials and they have been dragged into the court unnecessarily. There is no mala fide alleged by the applicant against these officials”, the CAT said, adding “all these persons have done their duty in official capacity so the applicant cannot drag them before the court by impleading them by name”.
The CAT further observed, “it is misuse of the judicial process and we cannot expect this from a senior IAS officer who is not aware of the basic fundamentals of the law that the Governors of the States and the President of India have immunity and they cannot be impleaded as party and no court can issue notice to them”, adding “so this petition deserves to be dismissed with exemplary cost so that before filing such petition in future he should seek a proper advice with respect to whom he should implead party and whom not”.
“It is the case of expunging of the adverse remarks made by the ex-Chief Secretary in his service book for which he has already filed two petitions which are still pending for adjudication before this court”, the Judicial Member said.
Parmar had earlier sought CBI enquiry against Manoj Sinha
Last year, Ashok Kumar Parmar had written a letter to union home ministry seeking a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in a Rs 13,000 crore centrally-sponsored Jal Jeevan Mission scheme.
He had accused J&K Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha of being part of a “criminal conspiracy” by the incumbent chief secretary Arun Kumar Mehta to commit irregularities in the implementation of the flagship Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scheme in J&K.
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