SC closes contempt proceedings against Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla
Sep 06, 2022
New Delhi [India], September 6 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday closed contempt proceedings against Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla as it refused to entertain a petition that claimed that the senior officer as DoPT secretary had not abided by a court order.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit said it did not see any reason to entertain the contempt petition. However, the court also clarified that the decision should not be taken as a reflection on the merits of the matter which will be decided on appeals before the court.
In April 2019, the top court directed the Centre to maintain the status quo regarding promoting Central government employees. Later the apex court turned down a DoPT plea to offer ad hoc promotion.
On December 11, 2020, the DoPT allegedly issued ad hoc promotion orders to 149 personnel from the Selection Grade (Deputy Secretary) of the Central Secretariat Service to Senior Selection Grade (Director) post.
According to the petition, this decision violated the order of the top court and sought to initiate contempt proceedings against Bhalla claiming he failed to maintain the status quo during his tenure at the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
