Ranchi, Jun,29: The Jharkhand high court on Tuesday quashed the dismissal of Jharkhand Police Service (JPS) officer Mukesh Mahato, an accused of adopting unfair means during written examination and interview to get selected in to the post of DYSP. He is the younger brother of deputy CM of Jharkhand Sudesh Kumar Mahato. 

Mahato was selected for the DYSP after second civil services examination by the JPSC. As many as 19 officers, including five of the state police service, were dismissed in August 2010 on basis of an high profile inquiry report submitted by the vigilance bureau of Jharkhand. The dismissal order of Mahato by state government was quashed by the bench of Justice N N Tiwary after hearing the argument of the petitioner and the state government. The court, however, said that the Jharkhand government should initiate a fresh inquiry and give chance to the petitioner for giving his explanation. 

Advocate B S Pandey, who argued the case for Mukesh Mahato, said the dismissal of his client was against the principle of natural justice. "My client did not get the chance to give explanation before he was dismissed from the service. The law says that before dismissal, a department must issue a show cause notice and seek explanation from the alleged person for using unfair means to clear the civil services examination," said Pandey 

"The court was convinced that the petitioner should have got a chance because only a few candidates who were appointed on basis of the recommendation of the JPSC were dismissed and the rest are still in service," said Pandey. 

The Jharkhand government that the petitioner was terminated from the service without any show cause notice as he was on probation but court has dismissed that argument. 

"The state government cannot dismiss even a probationary officer without giving him a chance to explain his position during inquiry. Summary dismissal is allowed in case of a probationary officer without conducting inquiry. In case of such dismissal, the government should not issue a show cause," Pandey added. 

On the other hand, Mahato praised the order of the high court. "The way government dismissed me from the service was not correct and by quashing the order, the court has done justice," said Mahato in his reaction following the court judgment.