The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Nagaland government to pass orders within one week on the appointment of Rupin Sharma, a 1992 batch IPS officer, as the lone member eligible to become the state director general of police (DGP) recommended by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) last month.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said, “We direct the state of Nagaland to pass consequential order to implement the Court’s order and appoint the officer duly empanelled by the UPSC.”
The top court was hearing a plea filed by the Nagaland Law Students Federation against the expeditious appointment of T J Longkumer as the police chief.
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On January 6, the state government issued orders appointing Sharma as DGP following the resignation of TJ Longkumer, who was to otherwise retire by February end under an extended six-month tenure.
The Court also refused to allow an application filed by the state to relax the minimum period of service from 30 years to 25 years for facilitating more names under the zone of consideration.
The bench, also comprising justices V Ramasubramanian and JB Pardiwala said, “We are not inclined to direct the UPSC to relax the age requirement from 30 to 25 years. This Court cannot be unmindful of the fact that any mandate for age relaxation would result in a situation where despite eligible officers being available, officers junior by as much as 5 years would become DGP.”
“This will not be in the interest of police service,” the Court said.
Nagaland advocate general and senior advocate KN Balagopal told the Court that an exception of age relaxation was granted by the top court in June 2020 for the appointment of Tripura DGP.
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Balagopal argued that northeastern states do not have sufficient IPS officers from their state cadre and this problem is bound to arise in future.
He pointed out a communication sent by UPSC to the Centre in November last year seeking relaxation of the minimum service rule of 30 years for Tripura. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) allowed such relaxation on December 12.
Regarding this, the Court said, “Whether relaxation (in service criterion) should be there in future is for UPSC and MHA to decide. The present is not a case where the Court by a mandatory direction can command relaxation to be made.”
