Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday revoked its order to suspend an IPS officer within 24 hours after the state police swung into action and complied with its direction.
On Wednesday, the bench of Chief Justice R.V. Malimath, while hearing a petition seeking compensation against land acquired by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), got annoyed with Chhindwara district Superintendent of Police for his alleged failure to comply with its previous order.
In its previous order, the court had directed SP Vinayak Verma to produce the respondent (NHAI officer) in the case before the court. However, when the court was hearing the case on Wednesday, it learnt that the NHAI officer, who is the main respondent in the case, has not been produced before the court.
The court got annoyed with lucrative approach of the police and directed DGP Sudhir Saxena to suspend Verma for his failure to comply with the court’s order. Following this, the police got into action and subsequently produced the responded NHAI officer before the court on Thursday.
The case pertains to compensation against land acquired by the NHAI in 2018. According to advocate Ved Prakash Nema, who represented the complainant, NHAI had acquired 1254 sq ft land, which belonged to the ‘Tulsi Ramayan Kirtan Mandal’, for a development project.
In 2018, the land owner had appealed in the court alleging that the NHAI did not pay adequate compensation for the acquired land. The court had then ordered NHAI to pay the remaining compensation ammount to the land owner, but the order wasn’t complied with.
Subsequently, the court had ordered Chhindwara district police to ensure that the respondent is produced before the court during the next hearing (April 12), but the police failed to comply with the oder.
However, after the court directed DGP Saxena to suspend the Chhindwara SP, the police searched the NHAI officer within the next few hours and produced him before the court on Thursday.
Meanwhile, SP Vinayak Verma tendered his apology and requested for leniency after which the court revoked its suspention order.
(IANS)
