The Karnataka government on Wednesday approached the High Court challenging the Central Administrative Tribunal’s (CAT) order reinstating Additional Commissioner of Police Vikash Kumar Vikash, who was suspended following a stampede during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL victory celebrations on June 4 which led to the deaths of 11 people and left several others injured.

The Central Administrative Tribunal’s Bengaluru bench, comprising BK Shrivastava and Santosh Mehra, had on July 1 quashed Vikash’s suspension, terming the state’s action as “mechanical” and lacking substantial grounds. The Tribunal held that the state had failed to present convincing material to justify the suspension. “The order has not been based on convincing materials the officers have been suspended without sufficient material or grounds,” the Tribunal said, directing the state to reinstate Vikash immediately.

In response, the state government filed a writ petition before the Karnataka High Court, contending that the Tribunal had overstepped its jurisdiction by making determinations on the stampede without the benefit of a full-fledged departmental inquiry. It described the Tribunal’s reasoning as “perverse” and inconsistent with established legal principles concerning suspension.

The government stated that it had submitted substantial supporting material in a sealed cover, including extracts from the Karnataka Police Manual and a detailed chronology of events from June 3 and 4. This material, it argued, was not properly considered by the Tribunal. “Despite placing material on record justifying the suspension, the Tribunal failed to assess it in the right perspective,” the petition stated.

The government also took issue with the Tribunal’s interpretation regarding the status of ongoing inquiries. It noted that both a magisterial probe and a one-man commission were underway, and that disciplinary action had already been initiated based on preliminary findings. A departmental inquiry, reportedly at an advanced stage and initiated at the direction of the central government, was communicated orally to the Tribunal on June 30. However, the government claimed that this was overlooked in the final judgment.

Additionally, the state objected to the Tribunal’s remarks concerning four other suspended officers — B Dayananda, Shekar H Tekkannavar, C Balakrishna, and AK Girish — who had not challenged their suspension and were not parties to the case. The government described the Tribunal’s suggestion of reinstating them as “highly irregular”, arguing that such observations had been made without examining their individual roles, service records, or the factual context of the stampede.

The Karnataka High Court is scheduled to hear the matter on Thursday.

– Ends