SC to hear Jharkhand DGP appointment row on Monday

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) The Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday a clutch of petitions challenging the appointment of Anurag Gupta as the Director General of Police (DGP) of Jharkhand.

As per the causelist published on the website of the apex court, a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai and Justices K. Vinod Chandran and N.V. Anjaria will also take a plea seeking contempt action against Jharkhand Chief Secretary for "wilfully and deliberately disobeying" the guidelines laid down in the Prakash Singh vs Union of India case.

According to the judgment, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is required to shortlist three eligible IPS officers with clean service records and sufficient residual service from a list submitted by the state. The state government must then appoint one of the shortlisted officers as the DGP, who must be given a minimum tenure of two years.

As per the plea, the Jharkhand government has appointed Gupta without following the due process, as his name was not on the UPSC-recommended list. Additionally, it introduced a new rule to appoint Gupta, who was set to retire on April 30, 2025 and granted him an extension until April 2026.

"These newly formulated rules are in blatant violation of the mandate laid down by this Hon'ble Court in the Prakash Singh judgment and subsequent orders. The state government has wilfully and deliberately eliminated the requirement for empanelment by the UPSC, a cornerstone of transparency and merit-based appointments, and replaced it with a state-controlled selection committee,” stated the petition filed through advocate Vivya Nagpal.

In a letter to the state government, the Union Home Ministry said that Gupta, having turned 60 in April 2025, stands retired under the All India Services (AIS) rules and cannot continue in service.

In July 2024, the Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand government had removed then DGP Ajay Kumar Singh before the completion of his two-year tenure. Ajay Kumar Singh was appointed DGP on February 14, 2023, and was due to serve until February 2025, but was removed prematurely.

--IANS

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