Snehal Upadhyay
Published on August 24, 2021, at 16: 52 IST
The Delhi High Court got highlighted the fact that a petition challenging the appointment of Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana as a Delhi Police Commissioner was already also filed before the Supreme Court.
This knowledge was made in response to the Court’s raised query on August 18, 2021, on whether any other plea is pending before any other Court pertaining to Asthana’s appointment.
On behalf of the NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), Advocate Prashant Bhushan informed the Division Bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh that he had filed a plea before the Apex Court on August 10 in relation to Asthana’s appointment.
Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, appearing for the Centre, stated that the plea was still pending and has not been heard by the Apex Court and will be the first hearing on Wednesday.The Bench has directed Advocate Bhushan to hand over a copy of the petition to the counsel representing the Central Government.
The plea also wants directions for initiation of steps for appointing the Delhi Police Commissioner strictly in accordance with the Supreme Court’s issued directions earlier.
“The impugned orders (of MHA) are in clear and blatant breach of the directions passed by the Supreme Court of India in Prakash Singh case as (i) respondent no.2 (Asthana) did not have a minimum residual tenure of six months; (ii) no UPSC panel was formed for appointment of Delhi Police Commissioner; and (iii) the criteria of having a minimum tenure of two years has been ignored,” the plea mentioned.
A contempt plea that filed in the Apex Court by advocate M L Sharma alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for choosing Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner which was in contravention to the judgment in the Prakash Singh case.