Cuttack, Nov 17: The Cuttack bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has directed the Odisha government not to take any action against former police chief of Kendrapara district Satish Kumar Gajbhiye until the disposal of his original application (OA) challenging his suspension order.
A CAT division bench asked the State government to file a counter affidavit and posted the matter to be taken up after four weeks.
Notably, the State government on August 13 had suspended Gajbhiye for alleged police excesses on people during a demonstration in Kendrapara district.
The 2002-batch officer is alleged to have been giving undue protection to ‘godman’ Sarathi Baba, who is now in jail for various crimes.
Gajbhiye is also embroiled in allegations of illegal acquisition of government land.