HYDERABAD: A division bench of Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the State government to inform the court within four weeks about the mechanism or procedure being followed in appointing a person to the post of Director General of Police (head of police force) to the State.
The bench was passing this order in a PIL filed by Vijay Gopal, a private employee, seeking a direction to the State government to quash the appointment of DGP M Mahender Reddy on the ground that the government has violated the mandatory guidelines promulgated by the Supreme Court in the Prakash Singh case. Other eligible senior officers would be deprived of an opportunity to head the State police force, the petitioner noted.
Petitioner’s counsel told the court that the State government has come up with a ‘colourable legislation’
“The Telangana Police (Selection and appointment of DGP (HoPF) Act, 2018” and appointed M Mahender Reddy as the Acting DGP on Nov 12, 2017 and thereafter appointed as permanent DGP (HoPF) on March 30 last year.
In fact, the said was brought in violation of mandatory directions of the Apex Court in Prakash Singh and others vs Union of India case relating to the appointment of DGP. As per the rules, the government should appoint the DGP from amongst the three senior most police officers of the department empanelled by the UPSC for the post of DGP.
On July 3 last year, the Supreme Court while dealing with the plea of the states for modification, has once again reiterated mandatory directions and said there was no need to modify earlier orders.
What the rules say
As per the rules, the government should appoint the Director General Of Police from amongst the three senior most police officers of the department. The names are chosen by the Union Public Service Commission.