CAT Opposes V Dinesh Reddy As DGP

Expressing its immense dissatisfaction, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Tuesday gave the government 3 weeks to submit a reply to the question of why it had appointed V Dinesh Reddy as the Director General Of Police (DGP) of AP without taking into consideration the seniority of the other IPS officers and also failing to consult the UPSC before finalising the appointment.

The CAT also took a serious note of the failure by the state government, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the DGP for not submitting a counter petition in connection with flouting the rules in the appointment of Dinesh Reddy as the DGP.

The CAT issued notices to the state government, the UPSC and the serving DGP, while admitting a petition filed by senior IPS officer and Home Secretary P Gautam Kumar, challenging Dinesh Reddy's appointment.

Counsel Jonnalagadda Sudheer, who represents Gautam Reddy, told the CAT that the government has "repeatedly flouted the IPS cadre rules" while finalising the DGP's appointment.

He pointed out that the government also violated an earlier Supreme Court ruling which made it mandatory for the state government to consult the UPSC before making such high-level appointments.

The Supreme Court had made it mandatory to give sufficient respect to seniority and integrity, Sudheer pointed out to the Hyderabad Bench of the CAT, which comprised of Justice P Swaroop Reddy and member Ranbir Singh.

With the state government seeking time to submit its reply, the CAT directed the state government, UPSC and the DGP V Dinesh Reddy to file their replies within 3 weeks without fail.

The challenge against the government's decision to appoint Dinesh Reddy was on expected lines, since he is not the senior-most IPS officer around. The state government is believed to have opted for him since he has more than 2 years of service left.

Earlier, in what was seen as a major embarrassment to the state government, the CAT had quashed his predecessor Aravinda Rao's appointment as the DGP, and had directed the state government to appoint a new state chief of police by June 9. However, the deadline was later extended.

That order had come after Gautam Kumar had sought the quashing of Aravinda Rao's appointment since "it was in violation of IPS cadre rules".

Gautam Kumar, currently Principal Secretary (Home), had urged the Tribunal to set aside Aravinda Rao's elevation to the DGP's post, arguing that that the appointment had skipped the seniority list and hence was illegal, since it violated the rules of the IPS cadre.

Gautam Kumar had said that he was side-stepped from the top job by Aravinda Rao even though he belongs to the 1975 batch of IPS while Dinesh Reddy is from the 1977 batch. (INN)