The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Nagaland government to issue orders within one week appointing senior IPS officer Rupin Sharma as the state’s Director General of Police (DGP).
The Top Court was hearing a petition seeking enforcement of its previous orders on the appointment of the Nagaland DGP because T J Longkumer, a 1991-batch IPS officer who resigned earlier this month, allegedly did not meet the criteria laid out by the apex court in the Prakash Singh case.
A bench of Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud and Justices V. Ramasubramanian and J. B. Pardiwala refused to hear the Nagaland government’s plea that the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) be asked to reduce the 30-year service requirement for IPS officers in the UPSC list of three for appointment as state police chief to 25 years.
The Court stated that the issue of reducing the 30-year service requirement for IPS officers to 25 years will be decided by the UPSC and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
The state government argued that finding three senior IPS officers with 30 years of experience in small states like Nagaland who could be considered for empanelment by the UPSC was extremely difficult.
“As previously stated, Rupin Sharma has already been appointed, and given the nature of the position, we are not issuing directions mandating the UPSC to relax the eligibility criteria from 30 to 25 years,” the bench said.
“The court cannot be blind to the fact that any mandate for relaxation of eligibility would result in a situation where an officer five years junior could become DGP,” it stated.
The Court then ordered the Nagaland government to issue the necessary orders within one week to appoint Sharma, a 1992-batch officer, as DGP.
