Supreme Court dismisses appeals against appointment of Punjab ex-DGP Dinkar Gupta

Satya Prakash

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 then Director General of Police (DGP) of Punjab.

“Appeals are dismissed”, pronounced a Bench led by Justice L Nageswara Rao while rejecting the petitions of IPS officers Mohammad Mustafa and Siddharth Chattopadhyay against Gupta’s appointment as DGP.

The Bench had on September 15 reserved its orders on the duo’s 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 Punjab DGP.

Gupta – who was DGP (Intelligence) — was appointed the Punjab DGP in 2019, superseding five senior officers, including Mustafa and Chattopadhyaya who belonged to the 1985 and 1986 batches, respectively.

After the change of guard in Punjab in September, Gupta – a 1987-batch IPS officer – had proceeded on leave. Later, he was transferred as chairperson of Punjab Police Housing Corporation.

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 as Punjab DGP

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 Punjab and Haryana High Court on November 6, 2020 held that 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 Punjab DGP.