Supreme Court orders Kerala government to reinstate former DGP TP Senkumar

The Supreme Court's ruling that the removal of Senkumar was arbitrary would mean that the incumbent DGP Loknath Behera will be removed from his post.

New Delhi, Apr 24: Noting that the removal of ousted DGP TP Senkumar was arbitrary, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Kerala government to restore the services of Senkumar. Delivering its judgement on a plea filed by Senkumar in March seeking restoration of his service, the bench of justice Madan Lokur and Deepak Gupta ruled that, “Considering the overall facts and circumstances and preceding events and incidents we set aside the judgment of Central Administrative Tribunal and order reinstatement of Mr.Senkumar.”

Quashing Kerala government’s earlier order that sacked DGP TP Senkumar, the apex court’s ruling that the removal of Senkumar was arbitrary would mean that the incumbent DGP Loknath Behera will be removed from his post. After being removed from his post, Senkumar had alleged that he was removed from his post because of his probe into the murder of TP Chandrasekharan, the founder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) and Abdul Shukoor, a youth activist of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). The CPM leaders were alleged to be involved in the murder.

Senkumar had then filed a petition in the High Court and the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) challenging the government’s decision of sacking him. After the petition being rejected by the High Court and CAT, Senkumar challenged the decision in the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court orders the Kerala Government to restore the services of DGP T P Senkumar after noting that his removal was arbitrary

— ANI (@ANI_news) April 24, 2017

The LDF government in 2016 had replaced Senkumar with Loknath Behera. Senkumar’s term as the DGP was until June 2017 and after being transferred before the end of his term, Senkumar filed the petition against the LDF government. After being removed by the LDF government, Senkumar was shifted as the managing director of Kerala Police Housing Construction Corporation.