A candidate who tells a lie cannot be a cop, HC rules DON’T HARASS DHABA OWNER: HC

The Hyderabad High Court held that a candidate who tells a deliberate lie when specifically asked cannot be taken even with a pinch of salt. He is wholly unworthy of being drafted into the police department which calls for the highest degree of honesty and rectitude, it said.

A division bench comprising Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy and Justice G. Shyam Prasad while allowing a batch of petitions by the State Level Police Recruitment Board of AP, observed, “Furnishing of false statement would even dwarf his earlier conduct of his involvement in a criminal case.”

The board had challenged the orders passed by the AP Administrative Tribunal setting aside the cancellation of candidature of P. Vinay and five others selected as constable in 2014.

The board cancelled their candidature based on the common ground of suppression of their involvement in criminal cases.

The tribunal set aside the cancellation holding that offences against the selected candidates were not heinous like murder, rape, involving moral turpitude. The tribunal held the view that the acquittal by Lok Adalat would erase the stigma.

Referring to a judgement of the Supreme Court in Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, v Mehar Singh, the bench said “Indubitably an applicant seeking employment in the police force is expected to make a fair disclosure of their antecedents for a disciplined force like police department, a fair disclosure is an essential requirement and an aspirant is expected to state these facts honestly, which is an inbuilt requirement of any public employment.”

This obligation to make a fair disclosure was incorporated in the Rule and the consequences of failure to discharge this obligation was also made explicit. These candidates had failed to disclose their involvement in criminal cases, they have gone a step further by making a blatantly false statement in the relevant column, Justice Nagarjuna Reddy and Justice Shyam Prasad said. The Hyderabad High Court directed the city Central Crime Station police not to interfere with the business activity of petitioners who were running restaurants with a name identical to ‘Santosh Dhaba’ while investigating the case of alleged trademark infringement against them, except in a manner known to law.

Justice S.V. Bhatt was disposing of a petition by owners of Maa Santosh Dhaba alleging that the CCS deputy dommissioner of police and other officers were harassing and threatening to close their business stating that the name and style of Maa Santosh Dhaba in Somajiguda was identical to Santosh Dhaba.

According to the petitioners, one Manoj Kumar Shukla lodged a complaint with the CCS police claiming that he had the registered trademark of Santosh Dhaba and running a dhaba identical to it would infringe on his copyright.