Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir government approached the Supreme Court of India for cause behind appointment of an interim Director General of Police in the state without consulting the Union Public Service Commission as mandated by the apex court in July this year, officials said.
Standing counsel for the state Shoeb Alam mentioned about the application before Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, they said.
The matter will likely be taken up on Monday.
In its application, the state told the court that Jammu and Kashmir police, which has been fighting militancy for the last three decades, cannot be left headless for a minute and therefore, the decision was taken by the administration on Thursday night, they said.
This comes after reports came in that the government of Jammu and Kashmir shifted Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Shesh Paul Vaid to the post of transport commissioner in its headquarters in Jammu on Thursday and placed Dilbag Singh, a 1987 batch Indian Police Service officer as the new DGP.
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah on Twitter criticised the replacement of former Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police and said that ‘there was no hurry’ to replace him, PTI reported.
A Home department order issued disposed Vaid’s services to the general administration department for further posting as the transport commissioner.
Earlier in July, the court had taken note of an application filed by the government of India in which it claimed that certain states have been appointing acting police chiefs and then making them permanent just before the date of their superannuation to enable them get the benefit of an additional two-year tenure till the age of 62 years.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud later passed directions, “None of the states shall ever conceive of the idea of appointing any person on the post of Director General of Police on acting basis, for there is no concept of acting Director General of Police…”
“All the states shall send their proposals in anticipation of the vacancies to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) well in time, at least three months prior to the date of retirement of the incumbent on the post of Director General of Police,” the court stated.
It said the UPSC shall then prepare a panel as per the earlier directions of the court and intimate it to the states, which in turn shall immediately appoint one of the persons from that list.
“An endeavour has to be made by all concerned to see that the person who was selected and appointed as the DGP continues despite his date of superannuation,” the bench had said.
