Andhra decides not to extend police chief's service

The Andhra Pradesh government has decided not to give extension to state police chief V. Dinesh Reddy, who is reaching retirement age Sep 30.

The government conveyed its decision Thursday to the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which dismissed the police chief's petition for a one-year extension in service.

The tribunal earlier asked the government to respond to the director general of police's petition that the government be directed to retain him in the post till Sep 30, 2014, in accordance with the view of the Supreme Court.

Reddy, in his petition, cited the apex court direction in Prakash Singh's case (retired Indian Police Service officer of Uttar Pradesh) that a state police chief should be in office for a minimum of two years irrespective of the date of his superannuation.

The 1977 batch IPS officer made a representation to the Andhra Pradesh government last month, seeking an extension of service but got no response. He then filed a petition in the CAT.

The apex court recently directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the assets of Reddy following a petition filed by another IPS officer, Umesh Kumar.

The state government in September last year re-appointed Reddy as the police chief after the Andhra Pradesh High Court quashed his appointment following a petition filed by fellow IPS officer P. Gautam Kumar.

Dinesh Reddy was first appointed the DGP, superseding five other IPS officers, in June 2011.