A sexagenarian father’s legal battle to secure service benefits of his son, a constable of the Central Reserve Police Force who was missing for over a decade, ended with the Telangana High Court instructing authorities to process his claim.
A bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin, pronouncing verdict in a writ plea filed by M. Appa Rao, quashed the order of CRPF’s authorities removing his missing son, Srikanth, from service. The CRPF’s disciplinary rules provide a separate forum for appeal against the ‘missing’ constable’s removal from service.
But, ‘since the delinquent (Srikanth) has not been traceable all along till date, his innocent father should not be relegated to the alternative remedy of appeal’, the judgement said. The bench noted that Srikanth’s removal from service cannot be sustained in the eyes of law going by the facts and circumstances of the case.
In 2014, Srikanth was declared unfit for combat service since he had an amputation of his left leg. After being referred to the Rehabilitation Board, he preferred to attend a computer course and joined CRPF Group Centre, Jharodakalan, New Delhi. Srikanth went missing from that campus on June 1, 2015 and was eventually declared a deserter. Since he was not traced, an ex-parte departmental inquiry was ordered which ended in his removal from service.
