Supreme Court sets aside order rejecting IPS officer's voluntary retirement plea

Supreme Court has set aside a home ministry order rejecting the voluntary retirement request of Maharashtra cadre IPS officer Abdur Rahman, who faced various charges, including torturing a person in 2014, contracting a second marriage without the consent of his first wife in 2016 and giving a speech in violation of rules in 2019. The officer had tendered a notice in Aug 2019 for VRS under Rule 16(2A) of All India Service (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, but it was not accepted, following which he approached the judiciary. Allowing his plea, a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe directed Centre to examine Rahman’s request for VRS afresh and make a decision in three months. Noting that state govt had subsequently filed a chargesheet in three cases, including in 2022 for his participation in CAA protest, SC asked Centre to also consider these cases. “In view of above discussion and analysis, we are of the opinion that central govt has not examined the complaints in detail before taking the decision dated Oct 25, 2019 of not accepting notice for VRS. Further, in view of the subsequent developments where chargesheets were issued but the state govt has been unable to conclude the disciplinary proceedings, the central govt must revisit its decision dated Oct 25, 2019, and examine the notice for voluntary retirement afresh,” the bench said.