Karnataka HC refuses to stay CAT order in IPS officer case

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court refused to stay the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which set aside the departmental enquiry against senior IPS officer Alok Kumar in connection with the alleged audio clip leaking case in 2019. The charge memo was issued by the state government in May 2025 on the orders of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to Alok Kumar just days before his scheduled promotion to the rank of Director General of Police, in connection with the case, for which the then chief minister Basavaraj Bommai in 2023 found it not necessary to hold any departmental proceedings. A division bench of Justice B M Shyam Prasad and Justice T M Nadaf declined to interfere with the tribunals order at this stage and adjourned the hearing of the appeal filed by the state government against the tribunal to December 4, with liberty to the state to seek final hearing of the matter on the said date. Alok Kumar had questioned the charge memo dated May 9, 2025, issued under Rule 8(4) of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, by the state government before the CAT, which quashed the same. The high court observed that the Tribunals interference was based on the decision taken by the chief minister on May 9, 2023. The tribunal interfered with the question of whether it was open to the next chief minister to review this decision. Crucially, it is undisputed that the tribunal had granted an interim order staying the proceedings pursuant to the charge memo dated May 9, 2025. On perusal of the records, and upon hearing the Advocate General K Shahikiran Shetty and senior counsel Dhyan Chinnappa for the IPS officer, the high court said that it is of the view that the stay of the tribunals order would result in the commencement of the proceedings, which have remained stayed for the last seven to eight months and that the circumstances are not exceptional to permit the same. The state is at liberty to seek expeditious disposal of the petition, the court observed.