Supreme Court junks pleas against Dinkar Gupta’s appointment as Punjab DGP

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 16

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed petitions challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order of upholding the appointment of Dinkar Gupta as the Director General of Police (DGP) of Punjab.

Gupta, a 1987-batch IPS officer, was DGP (Intelligence) before being appointed the Punjab DGP in 2019, superseding several senior officers, including Mohammad Mustafa and Siddharth Chattopadhyaya, who belonged to 1985 and 1986 batch, respectively. After the change of guard in Punjab in September, Gupta had proceeded on leave. Later, he was transferred as chairperson of the Punjab Police Housing Corporation.

“Appeals are dismissed,” a Bench led by Justice L Nageswara Rao said, rejecting the petitions of Mustafa and Chattopadhyaya against Gupta’s appointment as the DGP.

The Bench had on September 15 reserved its orders on their petition challenging the November 6, 2020, order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that upheld the Punjab Government’s February 7, 2019, order appointing Gupta as the DGP.

The High Court had allowed the Punjab Government’s appeal against the January 17, 2020, order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) that had set aside Gupta’s appointment.

The CAT order had come on a plea by Mustafa and Chattopadhyaya who questioned Gupta’s appointment on the grounds that they were ignored despite being senior to him.

However, the HC on November 6, 2020, held the CAT “exceeded its power of judicial review by transgressing into the domain of law regarding judicial review of the decisions/recommendations of the Selection Committee”, and went on to set aside CAT’s order that had quashed Gupta’s appointment as the DGP.