Hyderabad: Constable gets job back after a quarter century

Hyderabad: Moved by the plight of a constable who thrown out of out of service 25 years ago for escorting a woman accused of being a thief, the Hyderabad High Court directed the Telangana state government to take him into service and provide him all consequential benefits.

A division bench comprising Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy and Justice K. Vijaya Lakshmi was dismissing a petition by the home department of erstwhile AP challenging the order of the AP Administrative Tribunal granted in 2002 reinstating constable Md. Waha-juddin of Warangal.

The bench observed, “when the order of removal was passed, the constable was about 32 years of age, at the prime of his career and life. It took a decade for him to succeed before the Tribunal. For the last 25 years he is out of service. Even if he is reinstated now, he will be reaching the age of superannuation in a couple of years.”

The bench said “the sufferings the constable and his family members might have undergone are unfathomable. At the prime of his life, he was deprived of employment and his family members of an otherwise comfortable living with proper educational, health and other basic needs of life.”

He was sacked for alleged negligence in escorting a woman undertrial prisoner from Jangaon police station to Warangal Cen-tral Prison on December 6, 1989, along with another constable.

He was entrusted additional work of carrying a battery to handover to the communication wing of police at Warangal besides escorting the woman prisoner. Before they reached the destination, the prisoner escaped.

When the authorities ordered an inquiry , he claimed that his request to provide a woman constable as escort and handcuffs to secure the prisoner during the transit was not heeded.

After he was sacked, he approached the tribunal which set aside the order, holding that he cannot be held guilty of negligence when his request for providing a woman escort or at least handcuffs was rejected. The tribunal added that he was entrusted with additional work of carrying a battery which was wholly unwarranted.

While upholding the tribunal order, the bench found fault with the police authorities of erstwhile AP in not reinstating a police constable despite of the order of the Tribunal.

The bench has directed the TS home department to take him into service with immediate effect. The bench said Mr Wahajuddin shall be promoted according to his entitlement had he been continued in service, and salary arrears paid with 9 per cent interest.