The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the present DGPs of Punjab and Haryana continue in office till January 31 next and and agreed to hear the states’ pleas seeking to implement their local laws regarding selection and appointment of the police chief on January 8, 2019.
Both the DGPs, Suresh Arora (Punjab) and B S Sandhu (Haryana), were due to retire on December 31.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi passed the interim order on applications filed by Punjab, Haryana and Bihar governments seeking modification of the Supreme Court’s order making it mandatory for states and union territories to take assistance of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in shortlisting names of senior IPS officers for selection of DGP.
The Punjab, Haryana and Bihar governments said that they have already framed a comprehensive law, dealing with the procedures to appoint the DGP, in pursuance of the 2006 apex court verdict on police reforms.
They said the apex court’s directives on appointment of DGPs needed to be modified with respect to the three states.
The top court had in 2006 issued a series of directions, including a fixed tenure of two years for police chiefs, setting up of a state security commission to insulate police force from political influence and separating law and order duty from investigation.
