Suspended Andhra IPS officer reinstated on retirement day

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh’s senior IPS officer AB Venkateswara Rao was reinstated in service on the day he was scheduled to retire on attaining superannuation.

Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy on Friday ordered the reinstatement of Venkateswara Rao. The 1989-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer has been appointed as the Commissioner of Printing and Stationery as per the order, paving the way for his retirement.

The officer met the Chief Secretary on Thursday and applied for a post after the Andhra Pradesh High Court refused to stay the recent order of the Central Administrative Tribunal to reinstate him in service with full pay and all allowances and other consequential benefits.

A bench observed that given that the IPS officer is retiring on May 31, an interim order staying the CAT verdict could cause great hardship to him as compared to the petitioner (state). The court, however, clarified that reinstatement of Venkateswara Rao would not bar the state from taking criminal action.

Venkateswar Rao, who served as the state intelligence chief during the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government, had been suspended since February 8, 2020.

He was suspended a few months after the YSR Congress Party came to power in the state. He was accused of procuring security-related equipment such as aerostats and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Israel without following regulations during his tenure as intelligence chief.

Following a Supreme Court order in April 2022 that an All India Service officer cannot be suspended for more than two years, Rao was reinstated in May 2022.

The state government had appointed him as Commissioner of Printing and Stationery. However, a few days later he was suspended on the grounds that he could not continue to perform his duties as the investigation into the criminal complaint against him was still pending and there was a likelihood that he had influenced the witnesses.

Rao had challenged his suspension before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).

After a lengthy hearing of arguments, the CAT (Hyderabad branch) quashed his suspension on May 8, 2024. It ruled that an officer cannot be suspended twice for the same reason and directed the government to reinstate Rao in service with full pay and all allowances and other consequential benefits.

However, the state government approached the High Court on May 21 challenging the CAT order, arguing that the CAT order was vitiated by errors of law and certain findings and was contrary to the record.

(IANS)