New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Friday imposed a fine on the Central Government for hiding facts in the review petition related to the promotion of Indian Revenue Service officer Sameer Wankhede. The division bench of Justice Naveen Chawla and Justice Madhu Jain imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the Center and rejected the review petition.
The court condemned the conduct of the central government during the hearing and said, “We hope that the central government will truthfully disclose all the facts before filing the petition.” The court also said that the Center failed to disclose the fact that CAT had stayed the departmental proceedings against Wankhede in August.
The court rejected the review petition saying that the CAT order had already been passed before the Center filed the review petition. In fact, the Central Government had demanded a review of the decision passed on August 28 in which Sameer Wankhede’s petition against UPSC’s direction to give him promotion if found suitable was rejected.
In its decision, the High Court upheld the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal and asked the Central Government to comply with the instructions within 4 weeks. According to the order, CAT had directed the government to open the sealed envelope related to the promotion of Sameer Wankhede and said that if his name is recommended by UPSC, he will be promoted to the post of Additional Commissioner from January 1, 2021.
The central government said that CAT failed to understand the fact that cases were registered against Sameer Wankhede by CBI and ED. A complaint was also received in which it was alleged that he had presented a fake caste certificate to get the job.