Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The High Court, principal bench of Jabalpur, on Thursday, has slapped a cost of Rs 10,000 to the then Tikamgarh collector Subhash Dwivedi for attaching the then chief municipal officer (CMO) Geeta Manjhi to collector office.
Manjhi was removed and attached to the collector office in March 2023. The then municipality chairman Abdul Gaffar had alleged that pressure was mounted on Manjhi for payment of incomplete work in sanitation and water works and when she refused, she was removed.
According to the HC order, principal secretary (PS-UAD) has not answered to the query of the court under which provision of law, the collector was authorised to pass an order attachment of the CMO.
Instead of filing a direct reply, bringing the provision on the record, the PS (UAD) has tried to confuse the court by making unnecessary and superfluous averments in the affidavit.
Appointing authority of the CMO is the state government. Therefore, transfer could have been affected by the state government.
In absence of any delegation of authority, brought on the record by the PS (UAD) in favour of the then collector to attach the CMO, the impugned order cannot be substantiated in the eyes of law. Therefore, PS (UAD) has failed to justify the order of the then collector having been passed under the legal authority, the said order of the collector, being cryptic and without authority and deserves to be set aside.
