Chandigarh: A two-member bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) Friday quashed the appointment of Dinkar Gupta as Punjab director general of police (DGP), saying the “selection process” had been “defeated with impunity”.
The CAT bench, headed by chairman Justice L. Narasimha Reddy, held that the entire process followed in Gupta’s appointment went against provisions outlined by the Supreme Court.
“The selection process, which was galvanised, has been virtually ignored and defeated with impunity. A device procedure was evolved to choose the selection criteria in such a way that the desired candidates are selected. This exactly was the malady, which the Hon’ble Supreme Court wanted to eradicate,” the tribunal observed.
Gupta, a 1987-batch officer, was appointed DGP by the state government in February last year after his name was shortlisted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). He superseded five senior officers.
Two of them, Mohammad Mustafa of the 1985 batch, and Siddharth Chattopadhyaya of the 1986 batch, subsequently moved the CAT to challenge Gupta’s appointment. The CAT handles disputes and complaints regarding recruitment and service conditions of government employees.
Punjab has multiple DGPs and Gupta has been appointed as head of the police force. While Mustafa is currently posted in Punjab as DGP, human rights, Chattopadhyaya is the DGP for the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd.
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Punjab govt asked to send names of 3 senior officers to UPSC
Rejecting the criteria adopted by the Punjab government in choosing Gupta as DGP, the CAT asked the state to send the names of three senior-most officers to the UPSC for the appointment of a new candidate. The names, it said, should be “strictly in accordance with the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court”.
Both the UPSC and the Punjab government have been directed to complete this exercise in four weeks.
‘Can’t be a better instance of favouritism than this’
The tribunal said the Punjab government tailored the criteria to match Gupta’s “core” areas of expertise — intelligence, law and order, administration, investigation and security.
“The easiest way for a state government to ensure… an officer of its choice and who is pliable as DGP, would be to continuously post him in any specific activity, howsoever inconsequential it may be, and then to make an effort to accord primacy to such activity in the process of selection,” the bench observed.
“There cannot be a better instance of arbitrariness and favouritism than this. The selection process would stand reduced to a mockery. Any aspiring officer would make endeavours in ensuring that he remains in the good books of administration and he is posted continuously in a particular activity.”
The CAT order added, “It is just un-understandable as to how the 4th respondent (empanelment committee of the Punjab government) felt free to adopt its own criteria when the entire exercise was circumscribed by the judgment and subsequent orders passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.”
Govt to challenge CAT order
The matter came up for discussion in the Punjab assembly Friday — the second and last day of a special session convened this week.
Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh told the House that Gupta will continue as DGP. The state government also said it would challenge the CAT order in the high court. “We will file an appeal against the order next week,” Punjab Home Secretary Satish Chandra told ThePrint.
When contacted, Punjab Advocate General Atul Nanda told ThePrint he had advised the government to challenge the CAT order in the HC.
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