B’luru Stampede: ‘No Magical Powers with Police’, CAT Recommends Reinstatement of 5 Cops

BENGALURU:
The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), while quashing the Congress government’s suspension order of a senior IPS officer in the June 4 stampede incident case, which claimed 11 lives, stated on Tuesday that the action was not based upon sufficient and substantial materials.

The bench headed by Justice Santosh Mehra and Justice R.K. Srivastava quashed the suspension order of senior IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash.

Senior IPS officer Vikash Kumar, who was among the five officers suspended in connection with the stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, had moved the Central Administrative Tribunal challenging his suspension.

The bench further stated, “Therefore, in the light of the aforesaid settled position of law, we expect from the government that the government will give the same benefit to the other officers who were suspended.”

The other officers ought to be extended the benefit without the need for them to come to court, the bench stated.

“Police personnel are also human beings. They are neither ‘God (Bhagwan)’ nor magicians, and also do not have the magic powers like ‘Alladdin ka Chirag’ which was able to fulfil any wish only by rubbing a finger. To control the aforesaid type of gathering and to make the proper arrangements, sufficient time should be given to the police. But the information was not given to the police,” the CAT stated.

The police officers have been suspended without any sufficient material or grounds. Hence, the suspension order is liable to be quashed, the CAT noted.

The respondents are directed to re-instate the aforesaid applicant immediately. The period of suspension will be treated as duty with full pay and allowances, the CAT stared in its order.

The government order is not justified in the light of the prevailing circumstances on June 4 when the tragedy occurred. The Police were not in a position to take any other steps to organise the huge gathering, the bench stated.

Prima facie, it appears that, at the time of passing the impugned order of suspension, no material was available for showing the “substantial dereliction of duty”, the bench stated.

There was no material to show the fact that the police had sufficient time to make all the arrangements. No permission was granted by the police because the concerned organiser did not apply for the permission as per the rules, the bench stated.

As per the terms of inquiry, it is yet to be ascertained who was the responsible person for the lapses and deficiencies. In the aforesaid all circumstances, in view of this the suspension order has been passed in a mechanical manner and the order is not based upon the convincing materials, the CAT stated.

The applicant, senior IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash argued that the suspension order is liable to be quashed because there was no any fault of the applicant.

The order itself shows that there was a lack of time to prepare for the huge event. The FIR was registered on June 5, 2025, against the RCB franchise, DNA Entertainment and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). The suspension order has been issued without issuing a show-cause notice or without granting any opportunity for showing the defence, the officer had submitted.

“Any primary inquiry was not conducted. However, the organising and security arrangements were adequately made, keeping in mind the idea of the organisers in relation to the celebration and victory parade. Moreover, the scale of arrangement was made in a short span of time. Suspension is an extreme measure and should only be imposed in case of grave misconduct, corruption, criminal negligence, etc.,” Vikash Kumar Vikash stated to the court.

The CAT further noted that “it appears from the perusal of the suspension order that it is mentioned that ‘pending enquiry, it is found that there has been a substantial dereliction of duty. What is the base of this sentence, is not clear”.

“The organiser did not wait for the response of the police. At the eleventh hour, they submitted a letter and started the scheduled programme,” the CAT noted.

“Therefore, it appears that without obtaining the permission from the police or without the consent of concerned police officers, the franchise of RCB placed the information in the public domain on social media platforms,” CAT stated.

Reacting to the setback to the Congress government, Home Minister G. Parameshwara stated that he did not know about the order and will react after getting a copy of the order.

“We will see how the order has been pronounced and discuss with the CM. The CM holds the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) portfolio,” he said.