Supreme Court allows Dilbag Singh to continue as DGP of J&K

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 20

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Dilbag Singh to continue as the acting Director General of Police (DGP) of Jammu and Kashmir.

The new regular appointment of the DGP is to be made within five weeks.

However, the top court asked the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to send a panel of police officers to Jammu and Kashmir in five weeks for appointment of a regular DGP.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan alleged that it was a contempt of the court order as the procedure prescribed by the court for appointment of the DGP had been violated by the state.

The Jammu and Kashmir government had approached the Supreme Court to explain the reason behind appointing an interim DGP without consulting the UPSC as mandated by the apex court in July this year, officials said.

The state government had recently removed SP Vaid as police chief and appointed Director General of Prisons Dilbag Singh as the interim head of the force contrary to the guidelines of the Supreme Court, which had ruled in July that there would be no ad hoc arrangement for the post of police chief in the states.