New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the pleas of five states seeking modification of its directions which had set out selection procedure and the two-year minimum fixed tenure for the director general of police (DGP), saying the 2006 verdict wanted to insulate police machinery from “political” and “executive” interference.
Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Kerala and Bihar had moved the apex court seeking modification of the 2006 verdict on police reforms and its subsequent July 3, 2018, order dealing with the selection procedure and fixed tenure of DGPs on the ground that they have enacted local laws or procedures on these aspects.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi noted that in the verdict, the court had devised the mechanism of selection and fixed tenure of DGPs “while seeking to resolve the issue of insulation of the police machinery from political/executive interference” and the directions were “wholesome” and if implemented, would subserve “public interest”.
“The practice (of selection having UPSC play a role in empanelling IPS officers for appointment as DGPs) which has been followed further fortifies our view that, for the present, the directions in Prakash Singh (judgement) read with the order of this court, dated July 3, 2018, would not require any correction or modification. All the applications (of five states) are dismissed accordingly,” the bench said.
