CAT Slaps Rs 50,000 Costs on Prof for Abusing Judicial Process

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) imposed Rs 50,000 costs on the IPS officer-turned-professor for abuse of the judicial process.

A CAT division bench, comprising Dr Lata Baswara Patne and Shalini Misra, imposed the fine on Rajnish Kumar Rai, a retired IPS officer now serving as assistant professor at the Indian School of Management, Ahmedabad. The fine is to be paid within one month to the Sishuvihar, women, children, disabled, and senior citizens departments in the Hyderabad district.

Rai had challenged his transfer order dated 12.06.2017, which moved him from Meghalaya to Chittoor. Despite initial dismissals of his appeals by the principal seat of the tribunal and subsequent rejection by the Delhi High Court, Rai continued his legal battle by filing a special leave petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court.

Rai's pursuit of legal remedies across multiple forums, including the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court, with regard to the charge memo dated 16.02.2023, which is currently the subject matter of the SLP before the Supreme Court, was deemed an abuse of the judicial process.