Ex-major's reinstatement plea rejected

Mumbai: The Bombay high court recently dismissed a petition filed by Rajesh Dhankar, a retired Army Major, who was sacked from the job as a security officer of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT B), seeking re-instatement in his job.

He was sacked for taking a bribe from a private security agency to clear bills from higher IIT authorities.

A departmental inquiry conducted by a disciplinary committee of the IIT held him guilty, stating that he must have played a pivotal role, and sacked him. The court found the findings of the inquiry committee to be correct.

The court held that Dhankar was a key official and when the bills were to be routed through him, he would have an occasion to make the demand.

According to petition, Dhankar served eleven years in the Indian Army. In 1994 he started working at the IIT B campus Powai as a security officer.

In 2005, on the complaint by Mahesh Rao Gulwadi, who was providing private security services on the IIT campus, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) laid a trap and Dhankar was arrested for accepting bribe of Rs 10,000.

The CBI court acquitted him of all charges in 2009.

During the pendency of the CBI court case, the petitioner was placed under suspension on November 16, 2013 and disciplinary inquiry was simultaneously going on.

Dhankar’s lawyer contended last week, “While the hearing of the accused case in CBI court IIT failed to bring evidence against him, he cannot be concluded guilty on the same charges by inquiry committee in its own findings”.

Dhankar argued that there are no materials to indicate that he was a highly placed official.

The findings of the IIT committee stated that Dhankar held recommendatory power for overall security.  He allegedly had the power to see that whether private agencies were doing their work on the huge IIT campus.