Supreme Court disapproves delay in DGP appointments, authorises UPSC to flag concerns

The Supreme Court on Thursday disapproved the trend of appointment of acting DGPs and told the state governments not to delay in sending proposals to the Union Public Service Commission for the appointment of police chief.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi authorised the UPSC to send reminders to the States for sending proposals for DGP appointments. If there is a default by the States, the UPSC will be at liberty to initiate contempt proceedings, the court said.

“In order to ensure that there is no defiance of the directions issued in the Prakash Singh case, we hereby authorise the UPSC to firstly write to the state governments to send a timely proposal for appointment of DGP,” the bench said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by the UPSC challenging a January 9 order of the Telangana High Court.

Having noted the delay by some states in appointing DGPs, the court authorised the UPSC to flag non-compliance and directed it to act swiftly in the case of Telangana, where the post of regular DGP has remained vacant since 2017.

The court granted the UPSC four weeks time to convene a meeting and make the necessary recommendations for the appointment of the DGP for Telangana, highlighting that the prolonged inaction ran contrary to its own earlier directions on police reforms.

The Commission raised certain concern that delays in convening empanelment committee meetings were leading to situations where senior officers either retired before being considered or were overlooked.

The court noted that prolonged delays were affecting the careers of senior officers.

“We hold without any hesitation that the UPSC should convene the empanelment committee meeting at the earliest and make recommendation for appointment of DGP for the state of Telangana at the earliest,” the bench said.