IPS with tenure of 6 months to be appointed DGP: SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that the UPSC should consider only those IPS officers to the post of DGPs who have a minimum 6 months residual tenure of service.

The top court said the selection to the post of police chief in states should be "purely on merit".

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi pronounced the order that modified its July 3, 2018 directions passed in a PIL filed by retired officer Prakash Singh.

The court had last month reserved its order on a plea for modifying the direction for considering only those IPS officers for appointment as state's DGP who had a remaining tenure of two years, saying it was being misused to ignore other senior officers.

A bench of Chief Justice Gogoi and Justices L Nageswara Rao and Sanjiv Khanna concluded its hearing on the application moved by advocate Prashant Bhushan on behalf of former Uttar Pradesh DGP Singh.

Bhushan sought modification of the order passed by the apex court on July 3, 2018, wherein the top court had said “the Union Public Service Commission should empanel the persons, as far as practicable, from amongst the people within the zone of consideration who have got clear two years of service. Merit and seniority should be given due weightage.”

“This has resulted in senior officers being over-looked just because they do not have two years tenure left,” he said.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, said if only those with a minimum two years tenure period were to be appointed as DGP it would lead to “stagnation and demoralisation” among the senior officers. He also flagged the concern, saying in some states, acting DGPs were appointed and at the fag end of superannuation, the appointment was confirmed to grant a fixed tenure of two years.

Senior advocate Raju Ramachandra, acting as amicus curiae, submitted that according to him, those having even six months tenure left of service should be considered for the top post in police organisations.