IPS officer Senkumar hails SC order; Ker govt awaits judgement copy

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government today said it would take the further course of action after getting the copy of the Supreme Court judgement directing reinstatement of senior IPS officer T P Senkumar as DGP.

Senkumar, who was transferred two days after the LDF government assumed office in May last year, hailed the apex court verdict as a "historic victory".

Reacting to the court order, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government was yet to receive the full copy of the judgement.

"We are expecting to get it today itself. After getting it, we will do whatever has to be done legally," he told reporters in Kannur.

The verdict is widely seen as a setback to the 11-month old LDF government as Vijayan had all along defended the transfer of Senkumar, stating that the officer was not fit to hold the post.

"It is a historic judgement... It is not only beneficial to me but also to all officers in the country who work honestly," Senkumar told reporters here.

The apex court today directed the Kerala government to reinstate Senkumar as DGP, saying he was transferred from the post "arbitrarily".
Senkumar, who is the Director of Institute of Management in Governance here, said the judgement also reinforced that officers do not have to work under any pressure.

"It is the responsibility of all to implement the Supreme Court judgement. Let us wait and see what will happen," he said when asked whether the LDF government would take steps to reinstate him.

He also denied the government's argument that there was a serious lapse in the investigation of the killing of a Dalit woman law student in Perumbavur last year when he was the DGP.
"Police did not try to arrest any person under pressure in the case. We waited till we got the scientific evidence," he said.
Senkumar was transferred from the post of DGP (Law and Order) two days after the CPI(M)-led LDF government assumed office on May 25, 2016 and was replaced by Loknath Behara.
He had challenged the transfer before the Central Administrative Tribunal, which rejected his plea holding that there was no fault with the state government's decision. The CAT order was upheld by the Kerala High Court.
The officer, in his appeal in Supreme Court, had stated that his transfer was an "act of political vendetta" as he had probed various political murders allegedly involving CPI(M) cadres, including the 2012 brutal slaying of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T P Chandrasekharan.