The Delhi high court has dismissed a PIL challenging the appointment of Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner.
“The writ petition and the pending applications are hereby dismissed,” said the bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh.
The 1984-batch IPS officer, serving as the Director General of Border Security Force, was appointed the Commissioner on July 27, four days before his superannuation on July 31.
The petitioner, lawyer Sadre Alam, sought quashing of the July 27 order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs appointing Asthana as the Delhi Police Commissioner while granting him inter-cadre deputation and extension of service by one year.
The petition claimed that the appointment of Asthana was in clear and blatant breach of the directions passed by the Supreme Court in Prakash Singh case as the officer did not have a minimum residual tenure of six months and no UPSC panel was formed for his appointment of Delhi Police Commissioner.
