Andhra IPS officer finally gets posting

Amaravati, June (IANS) Nearly a month after revoking his suspension, the Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday appointed senior IPS officer A. B. Venkateswara Rao as Commissioner, Printing and Stationery.

Though the officer had reported to the General Administration Department on May 19 for the posting, he was made to wait for nearly a month.

The state government had revoked his suspension and issued orders for his reinstatement into service.

The suspension was revoked with effect from February 8, 2022 as directed by the Supreme Court. This was nearly a month after the apex court revoked Rao's suspension.

The Indian Police Service (IPS) officer was placed under suspension on February 8, 2020 on the grounds of serious misconduct in the process of procurement of security equipment while he was working as Additional Director General of Police, Intelligence.

The Supreme Court on April 22 dismissed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the state government challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court order which had set aside the suspension of the former intelligence chief.

It made it clear that the suspension could be for a maximum of two years as per the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Amendments Rules, 2015, and since the two year period was over, the suspension could no longer be in place.

In February 2020, the state government had placed Venkateswara Rao, an officer of 1989 batch, under suspension for his alleged misconduct and irregularities in purchase of security equipment from an Israeli firm.

The officer was working as Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) during the previous government of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Considered close to then Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Rao was removed as the intelligence chief after Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy assumed office in May 2019. He was waiting for a posting when he was suspended.

The police officer had approached Andhra Pradesh High Court, which had set aside the suspension on May 22, 2020.