HC upholds order to quash Andhra DGP's appointment

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition of the state government challenging the CAT order which had set aside the appointment of V Dinesh Reddy as the Director General of Police and directed it to complete the process of appointing a new DGP within two weeks.

The High Court upheld the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order that due procedure was not followed in the appointment of Reddy as the Andhra Pradesh police chief. It also imposed costs of Rs 5,000 on the state government for filing the "baseless" petition against the CAT order.

In its order, the High Court further directed the state government to send a fresh list of three senior-most IPS officers to the UPSC for selection of DGP and asked the government to appoint a panel within a week regarding the appointment.

The court also asked Reddy to continue in his post, till the appointment of new DGP.

The state government and Reddy had earlier appealed against the CAT order which in June this year had set aside his appointment after senior-most IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, P Gautam Kumar, had challenged the government's decision to appoint Reddy as the DGP last year.

Kumar pointed out that the state government had ignored his seniority with regard to the appointment.

In its verdict, the CAT had annulled Reddy's appointment and directed the government to take up the exercise afresh in consultation with the UPSC.

Kumar had tendered his resignation in the wake of the state government once again ignoring him for the post of Director General of Police on June 26.

A 1975 batch officer, Kumar had earlier challenged before CAT the appointment of K Aravinda Rao as the state police chief and had got an order in his favour in May last year, after the CAT quashed Rao's appointment.

In the last case where the then DGP K Aravinda Rao's appointment was challenged, the High Court had upheld Kumar's contention that due procedure was not followed in the appointment. But, by then Rao had retired and the government appointed Dinesh Reddy of the 1977 batch as DGP.