High court offers relief for grounded pilot

Mumabi: Responding to a petition filed by a state pilot who alleged that he was compulsarily retired from service after a biased enquiry, the Bombay High Court has said "it is necessary for the state to appoint an officer or authority which has no connection with the subject matter in departmental inquiries".
The officer should also not have any close acquaintance with the complainants or witnesses to avoid charges of bias. The petition was filed by wing commander Jitendra Sharma, who joined the state government as a full-time helicopter pilot in 1987 after his retirement from the Indian Air Force.
But Sharma was compulsorily retired from state government service in 1993 after an enquiry found him guilty of "lack of devotion to duty, integrity and conduct unbecoming of government servant". Sharma appealed in the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) but the order was upheld.
26/06/06 Kartikeya/Times of India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline