Supreme Court asks UPSC, T.N. to consider names for regular DGP
Questioning the Tamil Nadu government over the appointment of an acting DGP instead of a regular DGP, the SC on Monday directed the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) to expeditiously recommend names for making a regular appointment.
A three-judge bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) B R Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and Atul S Chandurkar, directed the TN State government to immediately proceed with the appointment of a regular DGP once the recommendations from the UPSC are received.
“Why do you have an acting DGP?” the top court asked after hearing the plea.
The top court’s direction came after hearing a contempt petition filed by a lawyer from Madurai High Court, Henry Tiphagne, against the Government of Tamil Nadu for violating the Prakash Singh guidelines and appointing an in-charge DGP.
The petitioner sought a contempt action against Tamil Nadu for appointing G Venkatraman as the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police on August 31.
During the hearing on Monday, Senior Advocate and former Attorney General of India, Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for TN, argued that the delay was caused by litigation initiated by one of the IPS officers.
The officer had approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) seeking inclusion of his name in the panel for consideration.
After his plea was dismissed by the Tribunal and his review was rejected on April 30, he approached the Supreme Court. His petition before the top court was dismissed on August 22, paving the way for the appointment process to resume.
After being heard these submissions from Rohatgi, the top court requested the UPSC to finalise its recommendations quickly and recorded that the State must act on them without delay.