In a jolt to those who were hailing the efforts of Himachal ‘Singham’ waging the battle against the mining mafia, Himachal Pradesh High Court today dismissed a petition lodged against the State Government order to transfer ASP Baddi and young IPS officer Mr Gaurav Singh as the State sited the transfer in public interest.
The matter was listed before the division bench of Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmed Mir and Justice Sandeep Sharma today and ordered to dismiss the case on the request of petitioner and RTI activist Rajeev Kumar Kaundal. The Advocate General of Himachal Pradesh Mr. Sharwan Dogra said that court ordered to dismiss the case today. He said that earlier the Court has asked the party to show his indulgence in the matter however the petitioner requested to withdraw the petition.
The State has pleaded before the Court that petition should be withdrawn as the alleged IPS officer did not oppose the State Government move to transfer him and joined at his next posting as ASP Kangra. It is pertinent to mentioned here that Officer has been transferred under the pressure of local MLAs and politicians as ASP have slapped the challan of truck belonging to MLA for illegal mining. Popular as ‘Singham’ in BBN (Baddi, Brotiwala and Nalagarh region) for his sharpness and indiscriminate attitude has taken the sleep of mafia menace during his posting at Police Station Baddi.
On the night of 2-3 August, ASP had caught and challaned a vehicle transporting illegally mined material. The vehicle belonged to a company owned by Doon MLA’s wife. The permit for mining had already expired and the driver could not produce any documents related to permission for mining, hence, ASP slapped a challan worth Rs. 70,000. On Saturday, he seized two stone crushers and a JCB in the same case as well.
On August 4, Thursday, Doon MLA met the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and on Saturday, IPS Gaurav Singh received his transfer orders. When asked regarding the transfer of the ASP, Doon MLA denied having any knowledge or influence in it.
