CAT scraps Andhra DGPs appointment

The Andhra Pradesh government,which has been grappling with problems over appointments and postings of senior police officers...

The Andhra Pradesh government,which has been grappling with problems over appointments and postings of senior police officers,received a major setback with the Central Administrative Tribunal CAT on Thursday setting aside the appointment of R R Girish Kumar as Director General of Police DGP.

The Hyderabad bench of the CAT directed the state to constitute a selection committee to appoint a new DGP in two weeks,in a petition filed by controversial former DGP S S P Yadav and A K Mohanty,who was briefly posted as DGP by the Election Commission. After the elections,Mohanty was transferred by the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government and Yadav was brought back. However,last October,Yadav was shifted to the AP Road Transport Corporation soon after K Rosaiah took over as Chief Minister.

However,Yadav protested his transfer and challenged the appointment of Girish Kumar. He said the government was bypassing him though he was a 1974-batch officer and thus senior to Kumar who is a 1976-batch officer. Yadav also contended that the appointment was illegal and against rules as Kumar was given apex pay scale to which he was not eligible. Yadav also said he was demoted and sent to a post with a lower pay scale.

The Tribunal,while quashing the government orders appointing Kumar as DGP,also observed that the appointment in apex scale is illegal and arbitrary. The CAT observed that Kumar was eligible to apex scale only from December 10,2009,when the fifth post of DGP was sanctioned by the Centre. The tribunal also ordered the government to release the due amounts to both Yadav and Mohanty as their present postings were of lower pay scale.

The new committee will select a panel of three members who in turn will choose the DGP in accordance with rules and regulations and considering the candidature of all the officers in DGP grade. The state should keep in view the observations made by the tribunal,the order said.

Mohanty,who was made DGP by the Election Commission last April,contended in his petition that he was also removed without any valid reason after the elections were over and posted in a lower pay scale rank as chairman of the State Road Safety Authority. But the Tribunal ruled that the DGP post Mohanty held covered only the election period and hence he cannot claim the benefits of Supreme Courts direction regarding the selection and transfer of DGP.