[BREAKING] Supreme Court issues notice in plea challenging appointment of Rakesh Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Central government and IPS officer Rakesh Asthana in a plea filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) challenging his appointment as Commissioner of Delhi Police (CPIL v. Union of India).

. A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna issued notice after briefly hearing CPIL lawyer, Prashant Bhushan.

. The plea is an appeal against a judgment of the Delhi High Court which had on October 12 dismissed the challenge to Asthana's appointment, stating that there was no violation of the Supreme Court's Prakash Singh judgment or any violation of service rules that merited the High Court's interference in the appointment of Asthana as DCP.

. CPIL had initially approached the Supreme Court challenging Asthana's appointment. Meanwhile, another petitioner one Sadre Alam had moved the High Court challenging the appointment.

The Supreme Court had, therefore, kept CPIL petition pending and given liberty to the NGO to intervene before the High Court.

The High Court had then dismissed Alam's plea after a detailed hearing in which CPIL was also heard as intervenor. The NGO has now moved the Supreme Court in appeal.

. Before the High Court, Asthana's appointment by the Centre was argued to be in contravention of the Supreme Court's judgment in Prakash Singh v. Union of India . Inter alia , it was also contended that Asthana has been appointed for one year, when the judgment says it has to be for two years. As per the judgment, for being appointed as police chief, there has to be a residual tenure of six months, which was not followed in this case, the Court was told.

. Notably, the High Court ruled that the directions given by the Supreme Court in the case of Prakash Singh v. Union of India are not applicable to the appointment of heads of police in Union Territories. Therefore, the Supreme Court's directions mandating a minimum of six months' residuary period service period before superannuation and for selection from a pool of officers empanelled by the UPSC do not apply to the appointment of DCP, the High Court has held.

The Court also found merit in the Central government's contention that Delhi, being the capital of India, has its own characteristics, peculiar factors, complexities and sensitivities, which are far lesser in any other Commissionerate.

The appointment of eight previous Police Commissioners in Delhi were also done following the same procedure followed when Asthana was appointed as DCP, the Court further noted.

The petitioner and the intervenor had alleged the violation of various service rules in appointing Asthana as DCP by granting inter-cadre deputation and extension of service days before his retirement. The Court, however, concluded that the Central government had the power to relax some of the rules cited.

It added that the petitioner and the intervenor have been unable to demonstrate that there was any blot in Asthana's service career and that the executive in Delhi has reasonable discretion to select a suitable officer for the post based on his career graph.

.Five reasons why Delhi High Court dismissed challenge to appointment of Rakesh Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner

[BREAKING] Supreme Court issues notice in plea challenging appointment of Rakesh Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner

Debayan Roy

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