Read Time: 03 minutes

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and consisting of Justices Bopanna and Hima Kohli today issued notice in a plea challenging the appointment of Director General of Police of Bihar.

When the matter came up for hearing, Senior Advocate Jay Savla submitted that the plea challenges the appointment of the DGP on the ground that it does not follow the guidelines of the court in Prakash Singh Vs Union of India. Savla further submitted that the court has issued contempt notice with regard to a similar situation in Jharkhand.

Court questioned Savla as to why the High Court cannot entertain such pleas. To which, Savla replied that matters of this nature are pending before the Apex Court. Thereafter, on hearing Savla’s submissions, Court issued notice in the matter.

According to the plea, the State of Bihar gave additional power to S.S Singhal as the Director General of Police after the sudden voluntary retirement of Gupteshwar Pandey, the earlier Director General of Police.

According to the plea filed through Advocate Amrita Kumari,  the above said appointment was done through three notifications from September 2020 to January 2021. The term fixed by the latest notification of January 2021 is for two years, whereas Singhal is set to retire in August 2021. The plea claims that he will now retire in December 2022 and that he will remain as the DGP for more than one year four months after his retirement as it is contrary to law.

Case title: Narender Kumar Diraj Vs State of Bihar