The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the Central government and Rakesh Asthana’s stand on a public interest litigation challenging the appointment of the Gujarat-cadre IPS officer as Delhi Police Commissioner.
A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice on a plea by one Sadre Alam and listed the matter for further hearing on September 8.
On August 6, a similar PIL was filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan’s NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), challenging Asthana’s appointment as Delhi Police Commissioner and the extension of his service by one year. Appearing for NGO, ‘Centre for Public Interest Litigation’ (CPIL), which has challenged the appointment before the Supreme Court, lawyer Prashant Bhushan stated that Alam’s petition was malafide and a “complete copy paste” of the plea pending before the apex court. On August 25, the Supreme Court had asked the high court to decide within two weeks the plea pending before it against the appointment of the senior IPS officer as Delhi Police Commissioner.
According to Bar and Bench, the top court went on to allow the intervention application. “My petition is pending before Supreme Court. I do not wish to argue here. This petition must be dismissed with exemplary costs. It violates all rules of the Court,” he said.
Image: The Indian Express
