Dilbag to remain acting DGP for now

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 20

The Supreme Court on Thursday said Dilbag Singh could continue as acting Director General of Police of Jammu and Kashmir till the Union Public Service Commission prepared a panel of three police officers for the appointment of a regular DGP by the state.

Giving a breather to the state government, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra asked it to provide in five days the requisite documents to the UPSC about senior police officers to be shortlisted for the post.

The Union Public Service Commission is supposed to examine relevant aspects, including merit and seniority of these officers, and shortlist in four weeks three names. The state government may then appoint an officer from the list as a regular DGP, it said.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for former Director General of Police Prakash Singh on whose public interest litigation the judgment on police reforms had come in 2006, alleged that the appointment of the acting DGP in J&K was in violation of the judgment on various counts, including that Dilbag Singh was the seventh on the seniority list.

“They have removed a DGP without following the procedure devised by the Supreme Court” and the government should have appointed the senior-most person as acting DGP, he said, adding that his plea seeking contempt against the state government be listed for hearing.

On behalf of the state, Attorney General KK Venugopal opposed Bhushan’s submission and said the law and order and the ground situation of J&K was different from the rest of the country.

The Attorney General said the person shifted out from the DGP post had “no problem” and no other police officer had aired any grievance, but Bhushan who had filed the PIL had a problem. “The ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir is not normal,” Venugopal said.

“We should not forget that this is Jammu and Kashmir. The law and order and security situation is unique and no other state has similar security requirements,” state’s counsel M Shoeb Alam said.

The state government had on September 6 appointed Dilbag Singh as the acting police chief, replacing SP Vaid, who was posted as transport commissioner.

The J&K Government had requested the Supreme Court to modify its July 3 order which effectively banned appointment of acting DGPs and made it mandatory for states to send a list of three senior-most IPS officers to the UPSC for clearance before appointing a DGP.