CHENNAI, July 10: The State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) has upheld an order of the Tamil Nadu Government dismissing from service six police personnel for dereliction of duty in connection with the escape of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) prisoners in April 1993.Three Sri Lankan Tamils, including Kiruban, an accused in the Padmanabha murder case, had escaped while they were being taken from the Chennai Central Prison for being produced before a judicial magistrate in Pattukottai on April 30, 1993.The six cops dismissed from service were A Gopal (sub-inspector), Delli and C Chakravarthi (head constables) and Jayaraman, D Ravikumar and Ravikumar (armed reserve constables).On April 29, 1993, the six cops and another constable, Mohan, were allotted the escort duty of taking one Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) detenu and three other undertrial prisoners, all Sri Lankan Tamils, from Chennai Central Prison to Pattukottai.They took the prisoners in a van and at about 10.30 pm, stopped the van near a wayside hotel on GST Road in Mamandur. The undertrials were not hand-cuffed when they were taken to the hotel. After they had dinner, four persons came in a car and fired at them. The escort party could not defend themselves and in the ensuing confusion, Kiruban and two undertrials escaped in the car. However, the fourth undertrial, Victor, could not escape. The police registered a case against the six police personnel and they were remanded to custody. After investigation, the Government passed an order on May 26, 1993, dismissing them from service for dereliction of duty.The policemen moved the SAT challenging the dismissal. They contended that no inquiry was conducted before their dismissal. They were in no way responsible for the escape of the prisoners. The said the escape was on account of several lapses on the part of some senior police officers and they were not aware that they were escorting LTTE prisoners.The Government submitted that the Governor, after satisfying himself that it was not expedient in the interest of the security of the State to conduct an inquiry in this case, had held that the dereliction of duty was a sufficient ground for their dismissal. He had rightly exercised the power under Article 311(2) of the Constitution.Accepting the submissions, the tribunal observed that under Article 311(2)(C) of the Constitution, the inquiry contemplated could be dispensed with if the Government was satisfied that in the interest of security of the State, it was not expedient to hold such an inquiry.The order cataloging the lapses committed by the escort party proceeded to state as to how in view of the involvement of Sri Lankan Tamils, the dereliction of duty was construed so grave as to affect the security of the State and on the satisfaction of the same, the Governor had dispensed with the usual inquiry under the said Article.According to the order, the lapses committed by the cops were that they had failed to take automatic weapons. Though they were deputed for escort duty much earlier, they had left Chennai prison only at 8 pm. They had stopped the vehicle near the hotel but had failed to hand-cuff the dangerous prisoners; some of them consumed liquor in the hotel.The tribunal further observed that the truth or correctness or adequacy of material for arriving at the satisfaction should not be gone into by the court, which could not substitute its own opinion for that of the Governor. The subjective satisfaction arrived at by the Governor in the backdrop of the six lapses enumerated in the order could not be questioned. It dismissed the applications as not having merit.
