New Delhi: A lawyer has moved the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The plea for contempt is about the central government’s decision to appoint Rakesh Asthana as Delhi’s Police Commissioner just three days before his retirement.
Petitioner Manohar Lal Sharma contended that the decision is contrary to Supreme Court’s judgment in the Prakash Singh case and urged the apex court to declare the notification appointing Asthana as “illegal”.
The July 3, 2018 judgment said that the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) should, as far as practicable, consider officers with two years of service left for such appointments.
Subsequently, several officers were deprived as the UPSC insisted on the “two-year residual tenure” rule.
The 2018 order then came up for reconsideration, and on March 13, 2019, a Supreme Court bench observed that the Police Acts of different states don’t provide for fixed residual tenures for officers to be recommended as police chiefs.
“The object in issuing directions in Prakash Singh case in our considered view, can best be achieved if the residual tenure of an officer, i.e. remaining period of service till normal retirement, is fixed on a reasonable basis, which, in our considered view, should be a period of six months,” the three-judge bench had said.
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) announced Asthana’s appointment on Tuesday.
“The respondent no.1 (PM Modi) is the head of the ACC and respondent no.2 (Amit Shah) is the Minister of Home Affairs who jointly decided and done impugned appointment against the judgment of the Supreme Court. Hence, they are party to this for contempt of court,” Sharma said in his plea.
His petition comes a day after Delhi assembly passed a resolution seeking immediate withdrawal of Asthana’s appointment and initiate a fresh selection process.
