Gujarat HC upholds dismissal of four AMC fire officers over bogus sponsorships

The Gujarat High Court has upheld the dismissal of four fire officers from the Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC), who had allegedly secured admission into the National Fire Service College (NFSC), Nagpur, using fake sponsorship letters and consequently obtained government jobs illegally.

The officers Sudhir Dadubhai Gadhvi, Shubham Amirdaan Khadiya, Mehul Gadhvi, and Asif Ahmed Mohammad Hanif Sheikh completed the Sub Fire Officer course at NFSC based on these forged documents. They later secured positions in the Fire and Emergency Services Department of AMC and drew significant salaries over time.

AMC terminated their services following findings from a vigilance inquiry that revealed serious irregularities. These officers challenged the termination in the High Court. However, a division bench comprising Justice A S Supehia and Justice R T Vachchani rejected their plea for a stay and upheld AMC’s decision, deeming it lawful, justified, and appropriate.

The matter dates back to 2019, when a complaint was filed by Mustafa Patel, alleging irregularities in the recruitment process for Station Fire Officers in AMC. It was found that a total of nine officers had used forged sponsorship letters claiming to be sponsored by institutions where they never actually worked to gain admission into NFSC.

The vigilance inquiry uncovered that these institutions did not even exist in many cases. Based on these findings, AMC terminated nine officers on August 22, 2024, including Sudhir Gadhvi, Shubham Khadiya, Mehul Gadhvi, Asif Ahmed, Abhijit Gadhvi, Aniruddhsinh Kanaksinh Gadhvi, Inayathussain Sheikh, Om Jadeja, and Kaizad Dastur.