A government hospital official arrested on charges of demanding a bribe was sent back to the same hospital and the same post after his suspension was revoked — a decision that has now drawn the Supreme Court’s scrutiny even as it restored his bail in the corruption case.
The sessions court subsequently granted him bail, but the high court overturned that decision on a plea by the complainant, directing that he be taken back into custody. An FIR was registered against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, following which he was arrested.
The Supreme Court noted that the high court had interfered with the bail order nearly a year after Singh was released, apparently taking exception to the sessions court’s observation that the alleged bribe amount was paltry. Singh was accused of demanding ₹ 4,000 from a complainant for clearing his pending wages of ₹ 36,421. It noted that a public servant who remains in judicial custody for more than 48 hours is deemed to be under suspension, without the need for a separate order.
The court’s observations came while setting aside a Patna High Court order that had cancelled the bail granted to Vishwa jeet Singh, an administrator at the government-run Sadar Hospital in Samastipur. But the court then turned to the state government’s handling of the official’s service status. The state informed the bench that Singh had indeed been suspended after his arrest, but that the suspension was subsequently revoked.
Taking note of what it called a “disturbing feature”, the court questioned how the official, who was arrested and spent 15 days in judicial custody in connection with the bribery case, could be reinstated and posted to the same hospital, in the same position.
