HC stays district supply officer's reappointment

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand high court has issued a stay on the order to reinstate district supply officer (DSO) Shyam Arya to his former position in Udham Singh Nagar district. This follows his administrative transfer to the Dehradun food and civil supplies office on December 26, 2020. The decision is connected to a food grain scam amounting to approximately Rs 1 crore that occurred in US Nagar district during the 2020-21 fiscal year.The court has also instructed the secretary, the commissioner of food and civil supplies, and the district magistrate of US Nagar to provide their responses within four weeks.
The then district magistrate of US Nagar conducted a thorough investigation into the food grain scam and Shyam Arya, the then DSO, was transferred to Dehradun, and supply clerk Heera Ballabh Joshi was suspended.
The investigation report revealed that the scam caused a loss of approximately Rs 1 crore to the government exchequer, implicating the then DSO, the supply clerk, and 11 fair price shopkeepers. Notices were issued to recover Rs 8.4 lakh each from the then DSO and the supply clerk, with the remaining sum to be recovered from the shopkeepers.
Heera Ballabh was reinstated after he paid Rs 8.4 lakh and retired on March 31, 2023. Meanwhile, the district supply officer, who had been transferred to Dehradun, was directed to be reinstated as the DSO of US Nagar.
The government decided to reassess the cases of the 11 fair price shopkeepers and constituted another investigation committee, which included the DSO as a member. This order was challenged in the high court by retired clerk Heera Ballabh, who argued that while they were compelled to repay the amount for the offence, the district supply officer was not.
Moreover, the Transfer Act unequivocally states that after an administrative transfer, no officer or employee can be reappointed to the same district for a period of five years. The petitioner further asserted that reopening the disciplinary investigation and reappointing the DSO to US Nagar was inequitable and improper, as no one can serve as a judge in their own case.
After considering the case, the bench comprising Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Justice Pankaj Purohit stayed the order transferring the DSO from Dehradun back to US Nagar.