Jammu and Kashmir govt approaches SC to explain appointment of interim DGP; matter likely to be heard on 10 September

New Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir government approached the Supreme Court on Friday to explain the reason behind appointing an interim Director General of Police in the state without consulting the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) as mandated by the apex court in July, officials said. Standing counsel for the state Shoeb Alam mentioned about the application before Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, they said. The matter is likely to be taken up on Monday. The state government removed SP Vaid as the police chief on Thursday night, and appointed Director General of Prisons Dilbag Singh as an interim head of the force contrary to the guidelines of the Supreme Court, which had ruled in July that there will be no ad hoc arrangement for the post of police chief in the states. In its application, the state informed the apex court that Jammu and Kashmir Police, which has been fighting militancy for the last three decades, cannot be left headless for a minute and therefore, the decision was taken by the administration on Thursday night, they said. [caption id="" align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Interim Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbag Singh and former police chief SP Vaid, on Friday. Image courtesy: Twitter@JmuKmrPolice[/caption] In July, the top court had taken note of an application filed by the Centre in which it claimed that certain states have been appointing acting police chiefs and then making them permanent just before the date of their superannuation to enable them get the benefit of an additional two-year tenure till the age of 62 years. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud passed slew of directions for appointment of state police chiefs. “None of the states shall ever conceive of the idea of appointing any person on the post of Director General of Police on acting basis, for there is no concept of acting Director General of Police…,” the bench had said. Chronicling the steps to being taken for appointment of the police chiefs, the apex court had said, “All the 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”. It said the UPSC shall then prepare a panel as per the earlier directions of the court and intimate it to the states, which in turn shall immediately appoint one of the persons from that list. “An endeavour has to be made by all concerned to see that the person who was selected and appointed as the DGP continues despite his date of superannuation,” the bench said and added that the extended term beyond the date of superannuation should be a reasonable period.