NEW DELHI: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Tuesday passed an order to reinstate IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash by quashing his suspension. He was suspended by the state govt after the M Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede, in which 11 people died and close to 70 were injured on June 4. The CAT also ordered the govt to consider his suspension period as official duty.Vikash was the Additional Commissioner of Police (West), Bengaluru City. Senior Advocate Dhyan Chinappa appeared before the CAT representing Vikash, an advocate for Dhanush Menon. According to Vikash, he was made a scapegoat over the stampede incident and was suspended without being given a chance to explain the incident.Vikash filed a petition before CAT on June 9. In the petition, he argued that the suspension contradicted the proper procedure for suspending any govt officer. He also stressed that the police had not given permission for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) victory parade.In the order, CAT stated that a petition was filed on June 9 for the quashment of the order dated June 5 by the Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms (DPAR), the respondent 2 in the case, by which the applicant was suspended along with four other officers of the Karnataka police department.The final of the IPL tournament was scheduled at Ahmedabad on June 3 between ‘RCB and Punjab PBKS’. The match was between the intervening night of June 3 and June 4. After a period of 18 years, the RCB won the aforesaid final IPL match.“M/s. DNA Entertainment Network Private Limited”, the event management firm for RCB, organised a potential victory parade around the M Chinnaswamy Stadium and also a celebration at the stadium. The aforesaid celebration was scheduled for June 4, during which the stampede occurred, resulting in 11 deaths.The incident resulted in the suspension of Vikash, Inspector General of Police (IGP) holding the post of Additional CP West. By the same order, in addition to Vikash, IPS officers B Dayananda (Additional Director General and Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City), another IPS officer Shekar H Tekkannavar (Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Division, Bengaluru City), C Balakrishna (Assistant Commissioner of Police, Cubbon Park, Bengaluru), and Shri AK Girish (Police Inspector, Cubbon Park Police Station) were also suspended.Out of the aforesaid five officers (three IPS & two State Police Service), only Vikash filed this petition against the suspension order, CAT stated.The organiser, RCB franchise, didn’t wait for the response of the police. At the 11th hour, they submitted a letter and started the scheduled programme. On June 4, RCB posted the link on Instagram, Facebook, and X, stating that the RCB victory parade was scheduled in Bengaluru. On the same date, around 8 am, RCB posted the link on Instagram, stating, “Army, We can’t wait to be back to the Home of Champions and celebrate with all of you today. Details out soon.”Around 3.14 pm, RCB again posted the caption on Instagram, Facebook, and X, which is more important. It says, “RCB Victory Parade: Today at 5 pm IST. Victory Parade will be followed by celebrations at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. We request all fans to follow guidelines set by police and other authorities, so that everyone can enjoy the roadshow peacefully. Free passes (limited entry) available on shop.royalchallengers.com.“The CAT observed that without obtaining permission from the police or the consent of the concerned police officers, the RCB franchise placed the information to the public on social media platforms. The RCB franchise unilaterally and without consultation with the city police, posted a photo at 7.01 am on the official handle of RCB on Instagram, informing that there was free entry for people and inviting the public to participate in the victory parade, which would commence at Vidhana Soudha and conclude at Chinnaswamy Stadium.The CAT stated that in the aforesaid circumstances, the action of suspending the police officers was not based on sufficient or substantial materials. At the time of passing the aforesaid order, there was no convincing material showing the default or negligence of the concerned police officers.Prima facie, it appears that, at the time of passing the impugned order of suspension, no material was available showing “substantial dereliction of duty”. Hence, the aforesaid order is liable to be quashed.Once the order is available, Vikash is planning to submit it before the state govt and expects to be charged in the same position, his advocates said.
