The Supreme Court of India declined to interfere in the case involving the appointment of an interim Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Dilbag Singh. A notice was issued by a bench comprising of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud.
In the hearing, Attorney General K K Venugopal who had appeared on behalf of the Government of India, said the prohibition to appoint an acting DGP was introduced to prevent misuse of the two-year fixed tenure given in an earlier verdict of the apex court.
Advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing for Jammu and Kashmir, said the appointment of an acting DGP was purely an interim measure to tide over the peculiar situation till a regular appointment was made in consultation with UPSC.
Earlier, 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.
