The State government today notified that V. Dinesh Reddy will retire as the Director General of Police on Monday even as the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) refused to grant him interim relief to continue him in the post till his plea seeking a term of one more year was disposed of by the tribunal.
The CAT, however, admitted his original application (OA) of one more year’s term and gave four weeks for the government to file a counter affidavit. The counsel for Mr. Reddy told The Hindu that he will move a House motion in the High Court on Saturday against the CAT order.
Incidentally, the notification issued by the government stated that Mr. Reddy will retire on Monday and another IPS officer of 1982 batch Shree Ram Tewari on December 31. The latter is of the rank of Inspector General of Police and is currently Officer-on-Special Duty in the office of the Commissioner of Printing, Stationery and Stores.
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The CAT rejected Mr. Dinesh Reddy’s prayer for interim relief stating that there was sufficient compliance of the direction of the Supreme Court that the DGP should have a fixed term of two years, a point emphatically raised by him both in his OA and interim application. In fact, he completed more than two years in two spells since his first appointment as DGP in June 2011.
The Tribunal had on Thursday disposed of a petition by Mr. Reddy seeking response to his representation to the Government that he be continued as DGP in view of the direction of the Supreme Court that officers holding the post should have a two- year term. The Government responded by informing that Mr. Reddy will not be continued beyond September 30, upon which the CAT closed the petition. It was then that Mr. Reddy filed an application for interim relief in CAT.
When the arguments on the application began in CAT in the first hour today, Mr. Reddy’s counsel Vedula Venkata Ramana said June 2011 should not be reckoned as the date of his client’s appointment because it was an ad-hoc arrangement made by an executive order. Mr. Reddy was appointed in accordance with law laid down by Supreme Court in September last year which stipulated that the process should be routed through the Union Public Service Commission. The linkage of assets case to Mr. Reddy was adding colour to the stand of government to deny him one more year of service.
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The Additional Advocate General K. G. Krishnamurthy said the government considered his background “as of today” to deny Mr. Reddy further term. Public interest was also kept in mind.