The Karnataka government on Wednesday moved the Karnataka High Court against a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order that struck down the suspension of IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash over the stampede near Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy stadium that claimed 11 lives last month.
A bench of Justice S G Pandit is set to take up the matter on Thursday.
Besides Vikash Kumar Vikash, then Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda, DCP Shekar Tekkanavar, and Police Inspector A K Girish were also suspended by the government on June 5.
The tribunal objected to the “mechanical” way in which the suspension order was passed, and said there was no convincing material that showed negligence on the part of the police officers. The order also raised the matter of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) inviting fans to its IPL victory celebration at the stadium on June 4 without obtaining police permission.
The order also explained that the relief would apply to the other suspended police officers, stating, “We also feel our duty to draw attention of the state government towards the settled principle of law that where a citizen aggrieved by an action of government department has approached the court and obtain a declaration of law in his/her favour, other similarly situated ought to be extended the benefit without the need for them to come to court.”
The tribunal’s order, passed by Justices B K Shrivastava and Santosh Mehra, was made publicly available on Tuesday.