Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Dec 16: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the Bihar government have been ordered by the Supreme Court to swiftly choose the name of the new Director-General of Police (DGP), who would take over for the departing S. K. Singhal on December 19.
A court panel made up of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha ordered the UPSC to choose three senior police personnel from a list submitted by the state government before a decision on the DGP is made ‘on or before’ January 2 of the next year.
The court ruled that the UPSC must determine as soon as possible because a panel has already been formed to shortlist candidates for officers on December 14, 2022.
“The state of Bihar shall take the consequential steps on or before January 2, 2023,” the bench said.
According to sources, the state government recently gave the UPSC the names of 11 senior police officers, and the UPSC will now need to choose three of those names. Any of the three officials selected by the UPSC to serve as the DGP may be appointed by the state government.
On March 7 of this year, the top court requested comments from the Bihar government and the UPSC about a PIL contesting Singhal’s appointment as the Director-General of Police (DGP), alleging that doing so breached the apex court’s ruling.
The top court had also issued notice to Singhal, a 1988 batch Bihar cadre IPS officer, who was appointed as the state DGP in December 2020.
