NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has cleared the decks for selection and appointment of over 3500 SubInspectors and Platoon Commanders in Uttar Pradesh Police, which has been stalled for over six years.
The apex court stayed the directions passed by both benches of the High Court at Allahabad and Lucknow from time to time and restrained them from entertaining any petition with regard to selection and appointment process of police officials which started in 2011 when the BSP government was in power.
The erstwhile Samajwadi Party government's attempt to take it forward also did not yield results due to multiple litigations.
The incumbent BJP government told the apex court that there was a dire need of police personnel as no appointment for the Sub-Inspector posts has been made for six years.
A bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and R Banumathi, while hearing a batch of appeals, directed the state government to resume the training process within two weeks, which will be continued and completed till the last among the 3533 candidates undergoes the training.
"In the above circumstances, we are of the view that it will be appropriate if the State is permitted and directed to complete the process of appointment of the candidates who had already commenced the training. In case, any one of them has completed the training, it will be open to the State to appoint him/her straightaway," the bench said.
The apex court clarified that successful completion of the training will be followed by their appointment and posted the matter for further hearing on August 22.
The recruitment process for 4010 vacancies had started on May 19, 2011, but after the final selection list was published, some candidates challenged the entire process which eventually led to the stalling of selection and appointment of police officials in the state.
The Uttar Pradesh government told the apex court that was in dire need of police personnel as no appointment in the post of Sub-Inspectors has been made by way of direct recruitment during the past six years.
The bench was informed that a total of 3533 candidates had been sent for training in November 2015 and they have almost completed it.
The state government told the court that as far as 291 candidates for the post of Platoon Commanders are concerned, 132 were sent for training and 75 of them have already completed it.
The apex court also directed the state government to take the remaining tests (group discussions, physical fitness, and medical examination) of all the 237 candidates, who had challenged the selection process by way of 37 petitions, provided they have cleared the written examination.
It directed the state government to file a status-cum-compliance report within two weeks and apprise it about the 810 candidates whose results were withheld as the selection list was allegedly tampered with by using a whitener.
On May 19, 2011, an advertisement was issued by the state government for selection of 4010 candidates (Sub-Inspectors and Platoon Commanders).
The qualifier preliminary examination for selection was held on December 11, 2011. Results of preliminary examination was announced on January 1, 2013, and based on the results, the main examination was conducted on September 14, 2014.
The results of the main examination was announced on October 23, 2014, and all the successful candidates were invited for the next stage of Group Discussion, which was held from December 11, 2014, to January 10, 2015.
The final select list of 3784 candidates was published on March 16, 2015. Based on the final selection list 3533 candidates were sent for training which completed in November 2016.