Andhra Pradesh revokes suspension of IPS officer

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government has revoked suspension of senior IPS officer A.B. Venkateswara Rao and issued orders for his reinstatement into service.
The officer has been directed to report to the General Administration Department for posting. The suspension has been revoked with effect from February 8, 2022 as directed by the Supreme Court.
The Government Order (GO) was issued nearly a month after the Supreme Court revoked Rao’s suspension.
The GO noted that 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’s 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 this period was over, the suspension could no longer be in place.