BREAKING : Delhi High Court Dismisses Petition Challenging Rakesh Asthana's Appointment As Delhi Police Commissioner

The Delhi High Court today dismissed a petition which challenged the appointment of IPS Officer Rakesh Asthana as the Commissioner of Delhi Police. A division bench comprising Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh dismissed the petition filed by one Sadre Alam. The NGO 'Centre for Public Interest Litigation' had intervened in the petition through Advocate Prashant Bhushan challenging Asthana's appointment.It held that directions issued by the Supreme Court in the decisions rendered in Prakash Singh's Case (I) and Prakash Singh's Case (II) are applicable only for appointment to the post of "DGP of a State", and not the Union Territories. "The judgement and the directions therein, have no application for appointment of Commissioners/Police Heads of Union Territories falling under the AGMUT Cadre," the Bench ruled.The Court also held that the Executive, which is responsible for the law and order situation in the National Capital, must have a reasonable discretion to select an officer it finds more suitable, based upon the career graph of such an officer, unless there is anything adverse in the service career of such an officer.It said,"It ought to be kept in mind that Delhi, being the Capital of India, has a unique, special and specific requirement. It has witnessed several untoward incidences and extremely challenging law and order situations/riots/crimes, which have an international implication, which in the wisdom of the Central Government necessitated appointment of an experienced officer possessing diverse and multifarious experience of heading a large Para-Military Security Force apart from other factors."The Bench was also of the opinion that public interest litigation cannot be entertained in a service matter.The CPIL had earlier moved the Supreme Court. But the Top Court asked the NGO to move the Delhi High Court, where the petition filed by Sadre Alam was already pending. The Supreme Court had also requested the Delhi High Court on August 25 to decide the issue within a period of two weeks.The High Court bench, which had reserved the judgment on September 27, pronounced the verdict today morning stating that the petition has been dismissed.Prakash Singh case not applicable to UTs"The peculiar set up of Union Territories and the lack of pool of sufficient officers in the appropriate Pay-Level, with requisite experience, in the AGMUT cadre, as highlighted by learned Solicitor General and not disputed by the Petitioner and the Intervener, lead to an inevitable conclusion that application of the UPSC Guidelines, flowing from the directions of the Hon‟ble Supreme Court, to Union Territories will create an anomalous situation, which would be completely unworkable.""This Court is unable to discern any observation of the Hon'ble Supreme Court which even remotely indicates or suggests that the directions were issued in the context of Police Heads of Union Territories, falling under the AGMUT Cadre.""On account of the unavailability of sufficient number of officers in the pool in respect of various segments of AGMUT Cadre, we cannot but agree with Respondent No. 1 that the State Cadres have to be treated differently from the AGMUT Cadre."Principle of contemporanea expositioCentre had argued that as many as 8 erstwhile Police Commissioners in Delhi, have been appointed by the Central Government since 2006, prior to the appointment of Respondent No.2, following the same procedure. However, those were not challenged in the past.In this backdrop, the High Court held,"It is a settled law that where a contemporaneous and practical interpretation or practice has stood unchallenged for a considerable length of time, it would be a useful guide for proper construction/interpretation of the provisions of a Statute or Executive Instructions. Therefore, applying the principle of contemporanea expositio, if a procedure has been followed by the Central Government since 2006, with the clear understanding as aforesaid and appointments of as many as 8 Commissioners of Police, Delhi have been made following the statutory regime under the Delhi Police Act, 1978 read with Transaction of Business of GNCTD Rules, 1993, which has withstood the test of time, without any demur/objection/challenge in any Court or Forum of law, the same gains weightage."It added,"This is more so, on account of the fact that the Petitioner/Intervener have been unable to demonstrate that a different procedure, from the one followed in appointing Respondent No. 2, was followed for appointment of the erstwhile 8 Commissioners of Police, Delhi."It concluded,"Appointment of Respondent No. 2 as Commissioner of Police, Delhi has been made by following the statutory procedure prescribed under the Delhi Police Act, 1978 read with Transaction of Business of GNCTD Rules, 1993. No appointment to the said post, has been challenged in the past by any stakeholder on the ground that the said Act or...

BREAKING : Delhi High Court Dismisses Petition Challenging Rakesh Asthana's Appointment As Delhi Police Commissioner

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