Overruling the recommendations of Himachal Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop and two additional chief secretaries, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has ordered the reinstatement of suspended IAS officer Sanjay Gupta.

A 1988 batch IAS officer, Gupta is facing corruption charges in two cases. A graft case was registered against Gupta under Section 13 (2) of the Prevention Of Corruption Act when he was arrested with Rs 2 lakh cash in July this year from a Parwanoo hotel.

A separate case of disproportionate assets was registered during the course of investigations of the bribery charges.

The state personnel department, which had earlier proposed extension of Gupta’s suspension for another three months, on Monday issued reinstatement orders in favour of Sanjay Gupta.

A senior official in the department confirmed that Gupta has been reinstated.

“Orders regarding reinstatement have been issued, but Gupta’s posting will be decided later,” he said.

Before his suspension, Gupta was the managing director of two public sector units. Last week, the chief secretary’s panel, which includes senior IAS officers Avay Shukla and Harinder Hira and additional chief secretaries as its members, recommended the extension of Gupta’s suspension for another three months as the officer has two vigilance cases pending against him and is out on bail.

The three-month suspension period of Gupta was to end on October 9 and the committee, in its meeting on October 8, had decided against the revocation of the suspension order keeping in view a report submitted by the Director General (Vigilance) and the Anti-Corruption Bureau. The recommendations of the review committee were sent to Chief Minister Dhumal, who was in New Delhi to attend a TV show.

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