Supreme Court recalls 2021 direction to suspend Tihar jail officials in Unitech case

The Supreme Court recently recalled a 2021 direction that had led to an indefinite suspension of 32 Tihar jail officials who were accused of providing undue favors to former Unitech promoters, Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra, following their arrest in a homebuyers cheating case. .The Bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh observed that an indefinite suspension cannot be permitted to continue as it causes substantial financial loss to the State exchequer. The Court also noted that the jail officials had remained suspended for over 3.5 years. It proceeded to order the competent authority to examine whether the suspended officials should be reinstated on a case-by-case basis. This exercise is to be done within four weeks, the Court said. "We recall the directions contained in paragraph 2 of the order dated 06.10.2021 and leave it entirely to the discretion of the Competent Authority to examine all the cases of officers/officials, who are under suspension, pursuant to our above stated direction, and take an appropriate decision as to whether they should be reinstated or not," the January 23 order said. The Court also clarified that it has not expressed any opinion on the merits of the allegations of misconduct against any jail official. "The Departmental proceedings or criminal cases may proceed in accordance with law as per their merits," the Court said. .In August 2020, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) informed the Delhi Police about alleged misuse of the Tihar jail premises by Sanjay and Ajay Chandra.The two prisoners were alleged to have been given access to unauthorized facilities, prompting the Supreme Court to order their transfer from Delhi's Tihar jail to jails in Mumbai.On October 6, 2021, the Supreme Court took on record an inquiry report submitted in the matter by the then Commissioner of Delhi Police, Rakesh Asthana. The inquiry report indicated that several Tihar jail officials were complicit in providing undue favours to the Chandra brothers.In the October 2021 order, the Court granted the Delhi Police Crime Branch permission to conduct a full-fledged criminal investigation by registering a criminal case under the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988 and the Indian Penal Code.In the meantime, the jail officials who were prima facie found involved in extending the Chandra brothers undue favors while in jail, were ordered to be placed under suspension "pending further proceedings.".One of the jail officials so suspended was Chet Ram Meena, who served as an Assistant Superintendent at Tihar jail.He was suspended in October 2021 when the Supreme Court passed its suspension order. Despite multiple representations seeking reinstatement, no action was taken, prompting Meena to file an application before the top court for relief. He claimed to have cooperated fully with the investigation and denied any complicity in the allegations. The Court granted him relief on Thursday by relaxing its earlier direction to keep the accused jail officials suspended..Senior Advocate P Chidambaram along with Advocate Akshat Gupta, represented Chet Ram Meena, the suspended jail official who moved the application. His application was filed through advocate Vrinda Bhandari. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati appeared on behalf of the Delhi government and the Directorate General of Prisons.