In an anti-climax to the spat between the Pinarayi Vijayan government and its ousted police chief T.P. Senkumar, the Kerala government on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that Mr. Senkumar was never appointed State police chief.
The Supreme Court had on April 24, 2017 directed the Kerala government to appoint Mr. Senkumar to the post. Seeking a modification of the judgment, the State submitted that the ‘State Police Chief’ is a distinct and separate post under Section 18 of the Kerala Police Act of 2011. “By the order of appointment dated 22.5.2015 issued by the Government of Kerala, Dr. T.P. Senkumar was appointed to the post of ‘Director General of Police and Head of Police Force’ and not to the post of ‘Director General of Police and State Police Chief,’ which is a separate and distinct post,” Kerala government, represented by advocate G. Prakash, informed the Supreme Court.
A separate review petitions has also been filed by the State challenging the Supreme Court judgment. It said Section 18 of the Police Act envisaged only one State police chief but several DGPs. The appointment of the State police chief will be from a pool of DGPs and done by a selection committee. This procedure under Section 18 was not followed in Mr. Senkumar’s appointment. But it was, the State contended, followed in the appointment of Lokanath Behera as Director General of Police and State police chief by an order dated June 1, 2016.
