CAT sets aside appointment of Dinesh Reddy as Andhra DGP

While setting aside the appointment of Reddy, the Hyderabad bench of CAT has directed the AP government to send a new list of senior most IPS officers to the UPSC within a week after which the state government can appoint a new DGP, IPS officer Gautam Kumar's counsel Jonnalagadda Sudhir said.

"The CAT has directed to complete the process of appointing a new DGP within three weeks," he added.

Challenging the Andhra Pradesh government's decision to appoint Reddy as the DGP last year, senior IPS officer and Principal Secretary (Home) P Gautam Kumar, had approached the CAT, pointing out that the AP government had ignored his seniority with regard to appointment of state DGP.

The petitioner had said that the AP government violated the Supreme Court order in Prakash Singh case wherein it had said that the state government should send a list of three senior-most IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for the selection of the DGP.

"The appointment of Dinesh Reddy as the Head of Police Force (HoPF) by the AP government is against the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Prakash Singh case. Reddy's appointment should be set aside and new appointment should be made in accordance with law," Kumar had said in his petition.

A 1975 batch officer, Gautam Kumar had earlier challenged before CAT the appointment of K Aravinda Rao as the state police chief and had got an order in his favour in May last year, after the CAT quashed Rao's appointment.

But the state government approached the AP High Court and obtained a stay on the CAT verdict, thereby allowing Rao to continue as the DGP who retired on June 30 last year, after which Dinesh Reddy took over as the new DGP.