The Patna high court rejected a plea by dismissed IAS officer Shiv Shankar Verma, who sought to implead CM Nitish Kumar as a party defendant in his ongoing case before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Patna, challenging his dismissal.
A division bench comprising Justice P B Bajanthari and Justice Alok Kumar Sinha dismissed Verma's writ petition, ruling that CAT Patna had rightly imposed a penalty on him for making a frivolous and redundant plea.
However, the high court reduced the cost from Rs 50,000, as earlier imposed by CAT, to Rs 10,000.
What is the case?
Verma, who is a 2011-batch IAS officer, was dismissed from service following a 2007 raid at his residence, where golden bricks and wires, allegedly exposing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, were seized. He was prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and found guilty of misconduct in a disciplinary proceeding.
After his removal from the All India Services cadre, Verma challenged his dismissal by filing an original application (OA) before CAT, Patna bench.
While the case was pending, he sought to make Nitish a party defendant, a request rejected by CAT, which also imposed a Rs 50,000 cost on him. Verma then challenged this decision in the high court.
On Friday, advocate general P K Shahi strongly opposed Verma's plea, arguing that such a baseless request should be dismissed with costs.
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