The Karnataka High Court Thursday disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against the appointment of senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Dr M A Saleem as the in-charge police chief of the state on May 21.
The PIL filed by advocate Sudha Katwa sought the speedy completion of the process of a regular police chief for Karnataka in accordance with the directives issued by the Supreme Court in the 1996 Prakash Singh case. The PIL also sought to expedite the empanelment process of IPS officers as per SC directives and “selection and appointment of a regular DG and IGP at the earliest”.
A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakru and Justice C M Joshi disposed of the PIL after Advocate General K Shashikiran Shetty informed that the state will appoint a regular DGP within a week of receiving the IPS officers’ empanelment list from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
A 1993-batch IPS officer, Dr Saleem replaced Alok Moha as the DGP after the latter retired. Dr Saleem is presently the DGP of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and has the concurrent charge of the of state DGP and IGP.
The AG told the court that an interim in-charge DGP and IGP was appointed through the May 21 order, as the state was awaiting the UPSC order of empanelment of senior IPS officers eligible for the post of the police chief in Karnataka.
“The reason for the delay is the UPSC not sending the names,” the AG told the court, adding that a UPSC empanelment committee meeting was held on August 26 and that the state had communicated to the UPSC to send the final list at the earliest.
“In view of the above, we do not consider it necessary to issue any further directions. The present petition is disposed of,” the bench said.
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The PIL sought to prohibit Dr Saleem from exercising duties as the DGP and IG during the pendency of the writ petition. The petitioner claimed that the Karnataka government had delayed communicating with the UPSC for the empanelment list.