NGO moves SC against appointment of Rakesh Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 6

An NGO—Centre for Public Interest Litigation – on Friday moved the Supreme Court against the appointment of Rakesh Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner on the ground that the decision went against the court’s ruling on such appointments.

This is the second petition in the top court against Asthana’s appointment. Earlier, Advocate ML Sharma had filed a petition seeking contempt action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for allegedly violating the court’s order in appointing Asthana as Delhi Police chief.

A 1984-batch IPS officer from the Gujarat cadre, Asthana was the Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) before being appointed as Delhi Police Commissioner. Four days before his superannuation on July 31, the Appointments Committee of Cabinet appointed him as Delhi Police commissioner. He will have a one-year tenure as Delhi Police chief.

The latest petition alleged that just four days before Asthana was due to superannuate on July 31, 2021, the Ministry of Home Affairs granted him an inter-cadre transfer from his parent cadre of Gujarat to the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa Mizoram other Union Territories including Delhi Cadre and gave him an extension of service for one year and appointed him as Delhi Police Commissioner.

The NGO alleged that both the orders passed by the central government and ACC on July 27 were “completely illegal“ as they violated the top court’s directions in Prakash Singh’s case (2006) on police reforms.

According to the judgment, as far as practicable the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) should consider officers with two years of service for such appointments and merit and seniority should be given due weightage, Sharma had said.