DGP may get in-charge status
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the AP High Court orders setting aside the appointment of Dinesh Reddy's as the Head of the Police Force (HoPF) in Andhra Pradesh.
Now the state government has no choice but to forward a list of names of senior IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and select one from a shortlist of three names returned to it. While this process is gone through, the government is also likely to issue formal orders making Dinesh Reddy the in-charge DGP.
While refusing to stay the High Court order upholding the Central Administrative Tribunal's (CAT’s) ruling quashing the appointment of Dinesh Reddy, the apex court directed the state government to adhere to the CAT’s order and send a new list of senior IPS officers to UPSC within two weeks.
The court, however, said it has no objection if the government included Dinesh Reddy's name too in the list sent to the UPSC.
The state government had filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court challenging the High Court orders, taking the plea that Dinesh Reddy was appointed to the post in view of his long tenure in service.
However, the court said there was no question of granting a stay as the state government has repeatedly violated the Supreme Court’s guidelines on DGP appointments as laid out in the Prakash Singh case. The court asked the state to file a counter-affidavit on the matter within three weeks.
This development in the Supreme Court puts the state government, which is keen on retaining
Dinesh Reddy as the police chief, in a fix. As per the apex court guidelines in the Prakash Singh case, anyone appointed as DGP has to have a minimum of two years service left. The question being debated is what parameter the UPSC will apply with regard to Dinesh Reddy. If his service from the time he was appointed to the post is considered, he would have more than two years. But if the current exercise is considered as a fresh one, he has only a little over a year's service left. He retires in September 2013.