The Supreme Court, on Monday, directed the State of Nagaland to pass orders regarding appointment of 1992 batch IPS officer Rupin Sharma as the Director General of Police (DGP) of the state.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices V Ramasubramanian and J B Pardiwala refused to consider the plea of the Nagaland government that the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) be asked to relax the 30 years service criteria rule to 25 years for IPS officers for being empanelled in the UPSC list of three for appointment as the state police chief.
“This being the position we are not inclined to issue direction mandating UPSC must relax eligibility criteria from 30 years to 25 years…The court cannot be unmindful of the fact that any mandate under judicial directions for relaxation of eligibility requirement of 30 years to 25 years would result in a situation where despite the officer of the requisite eligible being available, officers who are junior by as much as 5 years would become DGP. This would not be in the interest of the police service…Whether a relaxation should take place in the future of the requirement of 30 years is a matter for UPSC/MHA to determine. This is not a matter where a court should, by mandatory direction, command that a relaxation be granted ….”
The SC bench then directed the Nagaland government to pass consequential orders within one week to appoint Sharma as the DGP.
- Agencies