SC junks plea challenging M V Rao appointment as DGP

RANCHI: Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the PIL challenging the appointment of IPS officer M V Rao as Jharkhand DGP while observing that PILs are not maintainable in service matters.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India S A Bobde, Justice A S Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramanium observed that the petition has been dismissed after hearing both the sides. Notably, the apex court had in an earlier judgement stated PILs are not maintainable in service matters.
Advocate General (AG) Rajiv Ranjan informed that during the hearing they had argued that the PIL was malafide and a proxy effort. He said, “The state also informed the court that the appointment of Rao was an interim arrangement. As soon as the panel of officers is provided by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), the regular DGP will be appointed.”
Notably, petitioner Prahlad Narayan Singh had claimed that the appointment of Rao as the DGP (in-charge) violated the top court’s order. The SC had in a judgment ruled that the tenure of the DGP should be of at least two years. The court had also restrained states from appointing acting DGPs.
Notably the Hemant Soren-led government had transferred the then DGP K N Chaubey on March 16 this year, 10 months after his appointment to the post, and posted Rao as the acting DGP.
Meanwhile, UPSC in a communiqué to the state government said relieving Chaubey before two years without proper grounds amounted to violation of the SC order. It said that the state government should comply with the SC orders. When asked, the AG said that state government had filed its reply to the UPSC in this regard.