Team News Riveting
New Delhi, November 26
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre and Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rakesh Asthana in a plea filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) challenging his appointment as Delhi Commissioner of Police (DCP).
As soon as the matter was taken, the bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and A S Bopanna told Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the CPIL, that it was issuing notice.
The plea is an appeal against October 12 judgment of the Delhi High Court that dismissed the challenge to Asthana’s appointment, stating that there was no violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment or any violation of service rules that merited the High Court’s interference in the appointment of Asthana as DCP.
Asthana, a 1984-batch Gujarat cadre IPS Officer, was appointed as Delhi Police Commissioner on July 27, just four days before he was scheduled to reti from service. The Union Home Ministry, which oversees the Delhi Police, granted Mr Asthana one year’s extension in service “in public interest”.
The plea moved through Advocate Prashant Bhushan asserts that just four days before this retirement, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued the order of his appointment as DCP thereby extending his service initially for a period of one year beyond the date of his superannuation on July 31, 2021
