Supreme Court upholds Gauhati High Court decision to quash rule on SP appraisals by Collector

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Gauhati High Court decision to set aside a rule enabling Deputy Commissioners (DCs) in Assam to initiate performance and appraisal reports of Indian Police Service officers in the State who are posted as Superintendents of Police (SPs) [State of Assam and ors vs Binod Kumar and ors]..Deputy or District Commissioners of Assam is a civil service post equivalent to Collectors/Magistrates in districts of other States.A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and PV Sanjay Kumar stated that the performance of a district Superintendent of Police (SP) cannot be reviewed by a DC since the latter is not hierarchically above the former. "When liberty has been given to the SP to disagree with the Deputy Commissioner on any point relating to police administration and seek resolution of such difference of opinion through the Commissioner and, thereafter, the Inspector General of Police, it would be a parody to subject the performance assessment of such a SP to the same Deputy Commissioner with whom he/she had disagreed," the bench explained..The Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) and Annual Performance Appraisal Reports (APARs) produced by DCs in such situations cannot be taken as being impartial and objective, the top court added. "Such a situation must necessarily be avoided to maintain the sanctity of the assessment process. This constitutes one more reason why the Deputy Commissioner should not be the ‘Reporting Authority’ of the SP of that district.".The observations while disposing of an appeal filed by the Assam government against a Gauhati High Court order. The case concerned who the ‘Reporting Authority’ to initiate ACRs and APARs of SPs in Assam should be.In particular, the question was whether Rule 63(iii) of the Assam Police Manual, which prescribes that such assessment should be initiated by the Deputy Commissioner, was lawful. The rule had been challenged before the High Court by various SPs in Assam. The High Court ruled in their favour by holding that the rule in question was violative of Section 14(2) of the Assam Police Act, 2007..The High Court ruling was then challenged by the Assam government before the Supreme Court. The top court issued notice on this appeal in January 2019 and later sought the assistance of the Attorney General for India R Venkataramani in March last year.. While deciding on the appeal, the top court took exception to arguments by the State of Assam that the IPS officers who had moved the High Court could not insist on a reviewer of their choice.The Court underscored that IPS Officers, being members of an All-India Service, would be amenable to the rules framed under the 2007 Act. Therefore, allowing DCs to interfere with the internal organisation of the police force would be contrary to the mandate of this Act, the Court said."Merely because they are deployed/deputed to work in the State of Assam, IPS Officers cannot be denied the benefit of the 2007 Rules which would be applicable across the board to their ilk serving all over the country. It would, therefore, be incorrect to castigate such IPS Officers as insisting upon a ‘Reporting Authority’ of their choice. They are merely seeking parity with their kind working in other parts of the country," the Court added. .The Assam government's appeal was, thus dismissed. The 2017 Gauhati High Court ruling was confirmed.Additional Advocate General Nalin Kohli, Senior Advocate R Balasubramanian, with advocates Shuvodeep Roy, Nimisha Menon, Sarthak Sharma, and Ayushman Arora appeared for the Assam government.Senior Advocates Aman Lekhi and L Narasimha Reddy with advocates Somanadri Goud Katam, Ujjwal Sinha, Vijay Pal, Namrata Trivedi, Sirajuddin, Aniket Seth, Snehil Sonam, and Ritwiz Rishabh represented the original petitioners (IPS officers)..[Read Judgment]