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The Delhi High Court today adjourned a plea challenging the appointment of former Director-General Border Security Force, Rakesh Asthana, as Commissioner of Police, Delhi in view of a submission by Sr. Adv. Prashant Bhushan stating that a similar plea against the appointment is likely to be listed for hearing tomorrow before the Supreme Court (SC).

Bhushan informed court that the SC plea is filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation. In view of the submission, the division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh adjourned hearing the petition till Sep 24.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharm and Adv. Amit Mahajan appearing for the Centre informed the bench that they were not aware of Bhushan’s petition. The court has directed Bhushna to supply a copy of the petition to Sharma and Mahajan.

The court in the previous hearing had  adjourned the case seeking a response from the Centre whether any case in this regard is already pending before the Supreme Court. 

The petition filed by one Sadre Alam seeks quashing of the order/communication dated Jul 27 of the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) granting inter-cadre deputation and extension of service to Asthana.

The petition filed through Adv. BS Bagga says that the impugned orders are in clear and blatant breach of the directions passed by the Supreme Court of India in Prakash Singh case as Asthana did not have a minimum residual tenure of six months at the time of his appointment as Commissioner of Police since he was to retire within 4 days. 

Further no Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) panel was formed for the appointment of the Delhi Police Commissioner and the criteria of having a minimum tenure of two years has been ignored.

The petitioner has submitted that “the post of Commissioner of Police in Delhi is akin to the post ofDGP of a State and he is the Head of Police Force for the NCT of Delhi and therefore, the directions concerning the appointment to the post of DGP passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Prakash Singh case (supra) had to be followed by the Central Government while making the impugned appointment. However, the same have been given a complete go-by the Central Government”.

The petition thus seeks a direction to the Union Governmnet to initiate fresh steps for appointing the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, strictly in accordance with the directions issued by the  Supreme Court of India in the Prakash Singh case viz., (2006) 8 SCC 1,(2019) 4 SCC 13 and (2019) 4 SCC 1 of an officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre.

Case Title: Sadre Alam vs UOI

Edited by Shreya Agarwal