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CAT bench declines to stay transfers
of TN cops

The Tamil Nadu government received a setback on Tuesday when the Madras bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) declined to stay the 'transfer' of three India Police Service (IPS) officials of the state cadre to the Centre, as sought by the latter.

The three officers - Madras Police Commissioner K Muthukaruppan, Joint Commissioner S George and Deputy Commissioner Christopher Nelson - were part of the team that had arrested Union ministers Murasoli Maran and T R Baalu on June 30.

They had moved the CAT on Monday based on news reports of the Centre seeking their services from the state government.

They also included the state government as among the respondents.

While declining to grant a stay, the CAT bench chaired by retired Madras high court judge S S Subramanian gave the Union of India and the state government three weeks' time to reply to the plea by the three IPS officials after hearing arguments on their behalf by Supreme Court senior advocate P P Rao.

Given the fact that they have not formally been served any transfer orders, the CAT may also be called upon to decide on the maintainability of their petitions.

The Centre and state governments are, in fact, seized of the matter.

In their petitions, the three officials have cited the controversial arrests of former chief minister M Karunanidhi, Union ministers Murasoli Maran, T R Baalu, apart from a host of other investigations against the erstwhile Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) rulers and their sympathisers, to claim 'political motives' behind their transfers.

Last week, a division bench of the Madras high court, chaired by Chief Justice N K Jain, had also declined to stay the 'transfers' while granting four weeks' time to the Centre to reply to a Public Interest Litigation.

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