TP Senkumar had alleged political vendetta by the new government for his transfer.
The Supreme Court today directed the Kerala government to reinstate former DGP T P Senkumar, an order seen as a setback to the ruling LDF regime that had defended his transfer.
The top court while setting aside the order of the Kerala High Court held that Mr Senkumar was transferred from the post "arbitrarily".
Mr Senkumar was transferred from the post of Director General of Police(Law and Order) two days after the CPI(M)-led LDF government assumed office on May 25, 2016 and replaced by Loknath Behara.
Mr Senkumar, who had alleged political vendetta by the new government for his transfer, hailed the verdict as a "historic victory."
The high court had upheld the decision of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) which did not find any fault with the state government's order to transfer the senior IPS officer from the post of state police chief. Senkumar had challenged the CAT order.
"We direct reinstatement of DGP T P Senkumar," a bench comprising Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said on an appeal by Senkumar against the high court verdict.
The Kerala government had on April 11 defended in the top court its decision to transfer Mr Senkumar, claiming he had protected "erring" police officials in the 2016 Puttingal temple fire tragedy in which 110 people were killed.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)