DIRECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE (DGP)
CONTEXT :
- Recently, Maharashtra government appointed 1988 batch IPS officer, Ms. Rashmi Shukla as the new Director General of Police (DGP) of Maharashtra.
PROCESS OF APPOINTMENT OF DGPs:
Following the PRAKASH SINGH JUDGEMENT, the UPSC issued its own guidelines in 2009 on the appointment of police chiefs of states.
According to guidelines :
- The states are supposed to draw up and send to the UPSC a list of eligible officers with at least 30 years of service behind them, along with these officer’s service record, performance appraisal, and vigilance clearance.
- These officers are to be of the rank of ADG or the rank of police chief (and one below) stipulated for that state.
- The list is supposed to be given to UPSC six months before the incumbent DGP is to retire.
- An empanelment committee headed by the UPSC chairman, and with the union home secretary, state chief secretary, state DGP, and the chief of a central police organisation in it, is supposed to select a panel of three officers “based on merit”.
- For smaller states that may have only one cadre post of DGP, the committee is supposed to send two names.
ABOUT PRAKASH SINGH JUDGEMENT (2006):
Appointments of DGPs are now made on the basis of the Supreme Court judgment on police reforms in Prakash Singh vs Union of India 17 years ago.
SC’s guidelines on the appointment of police chiefs are as:
- The DGP is to be selected by the state government from among the three senior most officers who have been empanelled for promotion to that rank by the UPSC “on the basis of their length of service, very good record and range of experience for heading the police force”.
- The DGP should have a fixed tenure of two years in the post, irrespective of the date of retirement.
- A DGP can be removed only in exceptional circumstances.
ISSUES IN APPOINTMENTS:
- Problems often arises, as the UPSC has relied mainly on seniority to draw up the panel of officers. But SC had repeatedly emphasised on “merit” as the basis of appointment.
- Vagueness of criterion: Suppose If a state has given a list of a dozen officers, it may not be the case that they think that just the three most senior among them are fit for the job. Because there might be more meritorious officers below them in the list.
- Extension of Tenure: Sometimes the officers are given an extension of tenure beyond the stipulated term of 2 years.
- State-Centre friction: The center has the power to not release the officer for posting in the state which the state recommends in the list, leading to friction between centre and states.
ANALYSING CURRENT SYSTEM OF APPOINTMENT:
- According to Supreme Court judgements, there must be no temporary or ad hoc appointments of police chiefs, but there are at least four states currently having interim chiefs.
- In Delhi, S N Srivastava, who was appointed commissioner of police in 2020, spent almost his entire tenure in interim status, and was succeeded by an interim commissioner.
- The Centre has also used the Prakash Singh judgment selectively.
- As in 2021, it rejected the candidature of Rakesh Asthana and Y C Modi as CBI Director on the ground that they had less than six months to go for retirement, but appointed Asthana as commissioner of Delhi Police a day before his retirement.
WAY FORWARD:
- The apex court, while deciding the PIL filed by two former DGPs Prakash Singh and N K Singh in 2006, had issued several directions, including setting up of a state security commission, to ensure that the government does not exercise unwarranted influence on the police.
- It had said the appointment of DGPs and police officers should be merit-based and transparent and officers like DGPs and Superintendents of Police (SPs) should have a minimum fixed tenure of two years.
SYLLABUS: GS 2, MAINS, GOVERNANCE
SOURCE : THE INDIAN EXPRESS
