Nothing illegal in DGP appointment: Andhra government

The state government on Tuesday defended its decision in appointing V Dinesh Reddy as the director general of police and sought grant of stay of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order.

Advocate general A Sudarshan Reddy told the High Court bench comprising justice G Raghuram and justice N Ravi Shankar that the Tribunal order of setting aside appointment of Dinesh as DGP was based on judgment in Prakash Singh’s case in 2006 and the latter would not be applicable now as the Centre had made changes in the provisions of the IPS Pay Rules 2007. He reminded that the two earlier orders of the CAT which held as illegal the previous appointments of two DGPs (Aravinda Rao and Girish Kumar) were stayed one by the high court and another by the Supreme Court. Writ petition was still pending for adjudication in the court.

The Tribunal, in its order on June 19, held as illegal the appointment of Dinesh Reddy as the DGP. It directed the state government to conduct selection process afresh by forwarding names of all the eligible officers in the cadre of HAG+ to the UPSC within a week from the date of receipt of order copy and for UPSC thereupon to prepare the panel within a week. Thereafter the government has to select from amongst the officers in the panel.

The state government then moved the High Court with a request to set aside the tribunal order. The advocate general requested the bench for grant of stay and to post the matter to any other day for hearing. Dinesh Reddy’s counsel N Venkataramana said that a subordinate court should extend itself when a similar issue was pending before a superior court. Appointment of DGP, if any, shall be subject to special leave petition.

During the arguments, justice Raghuram pointed out that the grant of stay by the Supreme Court in Gautam Kumar’s case had not eclipsed the ratio laid down in earlier judgment of the High Court. Therefore, the ratio was still binding on the tribunal to decide the matter. Arguments will continue on Wednesday.