The Bombay High Court said the Maharashtra government had acted in an improper manner when it sent a letter to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in November last year asking it to consider acting state DGP Sanjay Pandey’s name for empanelment for the post of state Director General of Police (DGP).

The HC was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the Maharashtra government to appoint a DGP for the state as per recommendation made by the empanelment committee of the UPSC on November 1 last year.

According to the PIL, in asking the UPSC to reconsider the recommendations and in delaying the process of appointment of a permanent DGP, the Maharashtra government was acting in breach of the Supreme Court judgment passed in the Prakash Singh case.

Prakash Singh judgment

On September 22, 2006 the Supreme Court passed a judgment in a Writ Petition filed by former DGP Prakash Singh and others on several issues concerning police reforms.

The main directions issued by the Supreme Court are: 

1) Constitute a State Security Commission on any of the models recommended by the National Human Right Commission, the Ribeiro Committee or the Sorabjee Committee.

2) Select the DGP of the state from amongst three senior-most

officers of the department empanelled for promotion to that rank by the UPSC and once selected, provide him a minimum tenure of at least two years irrespective of his date of superannuation.

3) Prescribe a minimum tenure of two years to the police officers on operational duties.

4) Separate investigating police from law & order police, starting with towns/urban areas having a population of ten lakhs or more, and gradually extending to smaller towns/urban areas also.

5) Set up a Police Establishment Board at the state level for inter alia deciding all transfers, postings, promotions and other service related matters of officers of and below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. 

6) Constitute Police Complaints Authorities at the state and district level for looking into complaints against police officers.

7) The Supreme Court also directed the central government to set up a National Security Commission at the Union Level to prepare a panel for being placed before the appropriate Appointing Authority, for selection and placement of chiefs of the Central Police Organisations (CPOs), who should also be given a minimum tenure of two years, with additional mandate to review from time to time measures to upgrade the effectiveness of these forces, improve the service conditions of its personnel, ensure that there is proper coordination between them and that the forces are generally utilized for the purposes they were raised and make recommendations in that behalf.

In July 2018, the Supreme Court clarified that:

• All states shall send their proposals in anticipation of the vacancies to the UPSC, well in time at least three months prior to the date of retirement of the incumbent on the post of Director General of Police.

• The state shall immediately appoint one of the persons from the panel prepared by the UPSC.

• None of the states shall ever conceive of the idea of appointing any person on the post of DGP on acting basis for there is no concept of acting Director General of Police.

However, many states passed laws or executive orders to circumvent the empanelment process of the UPSC.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store