SC to UPSC: Clear air on DGP appointment

NEW DELHI: With states attempting to step around its 2006 judgment laying down procedure for appointment of director generals of police, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Union Public Service Commission whether it was preparing panels of senior IPS officers for each state to pick its DGP in the last 10 years.

Though the judgment of September 22, 2006, by a bench headed by then-CJI Y K Sabharwal had attempted to insulate the DGP's office from political influence, it had said the guidelines laid down by SC would operate till states enacted legislation providing for a transparent process for appointment.

Most states did not follow the SC judgment and enacted laws doing away with the panel of names recommended by UPSC. The state laws instead provided for an in-house committee to provide a panel of senior IPS officers of the state cadre from whom the government could pick its choice. SC on July 3 last year had said those state laws, not in sync with the 2006 judgment for appointment of DGPs, would be kept in abeyance. States had moved SC for the modification of this order.

To put the confusion over implementation of the 2006 verdict to rest, a bench comprising CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L N Rao and S K Kaul ordered, "We would like the secretary of UPSC to apprise the court by January 16as to whether empanelling of IPS officers for promotion to the rank of DGP in different states is made by the commission in the discharge of its functions."