Kerala HC summons ACS (Home) over non-compliance in DGP’s foreign trip complaint

A fresh legal complication has developed over a complaint against DGP (Prisons) S Sreejith (IPS:1996:KL)’s foreign trip, with the Kerala High Court directing the Additional Chief Secretary (Home & Vigilance), Minhaj Alam (IAS:1996:KL), to personally appear before it on Aug 20 over the alleged non-compliance with its earlier directions in a complaint seeking a vigilance inquiry against the IPS officer.

The petitioner had alleged that DGP S Sreejith visited Dubai by availing casual leave without taking permission and attended the inauguration of a private enterprise in Dubai while wearing his police uniform. It was further alleged that the enterprise inaugurated was virtually a concern of S. Sreejith.

Justice A. Badharudeen passed the order on August 17 in a writ petition challenging a compliance report submitted by the ACS (Home & Vigilance).

The court had directed an inquiry into the complaint in an earlier petition, following which the ACS issued a notice asking the petitioner to appear for a joint hearing in the presence of Sreejith, the officer against whom the allegations had been made.

The petitioner declined to attend the joint hearing, saying it was unfair to present his case in the presence of the officer concerned and expressed his willingness to appear independently before the vigilance authorities.

The court had also directed the ACS on July 28 to give the petitioner an independent personal hearing in the absence of Sreejith and pass fresh orders within three weeks.

But despite this, the ACS submitted his compliance report, saying that the petitioner’s allegations against senior police officer S. Sreejith, IPS, were “false and vexatious.”

The petitioner then moved a writ petition against the compliance report and informed the court that the directive had not yet been complied with.

In view of the alleged non-compliance with its directions, the court then directed the ACS to personally appear before it on Thursday.

The court had also recently questioned Sreejith’s hurried promotion to the DGP rank amid corruption allegations.