The Delhi High Court on Wednesday, May 24, upheld the Union government’s order dismissing Gujarat IPS Officer Satish Chandra Verma, who had assisted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its probe into the alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan in Gujarat in 2004.A division bench dismissed the pleas moved by Verma against his termination.Verma was dismissed from service on August 30, 2022, ahead of his superannuation on September 30.He had probed the 2004 Ishrat Jahan case between April 2010 and October 2011 and on his investigation report, a special investigation team held it was a fake encounter.Earlier, Verma had also approached the apex court after the High Court allowed the Home Ministry to take action against him in view of a departmental inquiry, which proved the charges against him.However, he moved an application before the High Court last year to amend his petition to challenge the dismissal order that was passed during the pendency of the matter.The charges included interacting “with public media” when he was Chief Vigilance Officer of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation, Shillong.The high court had refused to stay Verma’s dismissal last year on September 26.

“We are not inclined to stay or interdict the order of dismissal dated 30.08.2022 at this stage,” a division bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Tushar Rao Gedela said in the order.The court had noted, “It is not in dispute that the petitioner (Satish) had given an interview to a news channel pertaining to the aspects which were not within the sphere of his duties at the time when the interview was givenThe interview also pertained to aspects which were subjudice”.