MUMBAI, July 31; The Bombay High Court today decided that there was no malafide involvement of Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde and Chief Secretary Dinesh Afzalpurkar in the case of the transfer of IPS (Indian Police Service) officer, Y P Singh, from Mumbai to Nagpur.

However, the division bench of Justice A V Sawant and J A Patil granted a 30-day stay on the transfer to allow Singh to further challenge the transfer in the Supreme Court. The court had earlier granted status quo on his transfer on June 9. The judges said that the order will continue and the government cannot take any action against Singh in the intervening period.

Also, it cannot appoint another person during Singh's absence. Singh argued his case in person before the CAT and the BHC.

Singh had earlier challenged the order of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) which held that his transfer from Mumbai as Assistant Inspector General of Police to the Commandant of State Reserve Police in Nagpur was accomplished at the behest of political bigwigs. The judges said the transfer was routine, initiated by Joint Secretary (Home) and approved by the Chief Minister, since the SRP Commandant's post was vacant at Nagpur. Hence, the charge of ``personal bias''.

Advocate General C J Sawant today argued that the state is empowered to transfer police officials according to the law and order situation. The office of Director General of Police A S Samra filed an affidavit saying that Singh was selected for the Nagpur posting only on the basis of his seniority, and that the post was no less important than that of Assistant IGP in Mumbai.

Singh had been directed by CAT to approach the government for reconsidering his case of transfer. However, he moved the BHC on June 6 and vacation judge Justice D K Deshmukh granted status quo on his transfer till June 9. When the matter came up before this division bench, Singh was again asked to approach the government. Singh had stated before Justice Sawant that a biased government is bound to reject his request.

The government rejected his plea on the ground that his transfer was a routine affair and not malafide. An aggrieved Singh moved the BHC again.

He reiterated that Munde, Afazlpurkar and the Central Bureau of Investigation were behind his transfer, especially since he had unearthed ``inconvenient'' material against political bigwigs. Singh also alleged that he was prematurely repatriated from CBI to the state cadre in March 1996, since he was handling corruption cases involving Afzalpurkar, the then Chairman of Mumbai Port Trust. He has also challenged the repatriation in the CAT.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.