“The appointment of Anurag Gupta to the post of Acting Director General of Police of Jharkhand on an ad-hoc basis is in clear violation of the judgment of this Court in Prakash Singh vs Union of India [Writ Petition (Civil) No 310 of 1996 and the order dated 16 January 2023 in the contempt proceedings [Contempt Petition (Civil) No 403 of 2021],” submitted the petitioner’s Counsel. The Supreme Court has sought a response from Chief Secretary L Khiangte and acting DGP within two weeks along with a counter affidavit in this regard. The contempt petition, filed by Jamshedpur resident Naresh Makani, stated that Anurag Gupta was appointed as interim DGP replacing Ajay Kumar Singh in contravention of the guidelines laid by the Supreme Court.Anurag Gupta, a 1990 batch IPS officer, was appointed as the acting Director General of Police (DGP) on July 27, replacing Ajay Kumar Singh. Singh, a 1989 batch IPS officer, was appointed DGP on February 15, 2023, for a two-year term through a panel approved by the UPSC in pursuance of the apex court order. In between, the state government removed Ajay Kumar Singh and appointed Anurag Gupta as the Director General of Police in-charge, without prior notice or show cause. While hearing the case on Friday, the Supreme Court expressed its displeasure and issued notices to the Chief Secretary and acting DGP.Makani, in his petition, has also stated that this is not the first time that Jharkhand government has made irregular appointments of the DGP. Earlier, it had transferred KN Choubey, the then DGP to the position of OSD (Modernization) Camp, New Delhi on June 8 2019. MV Rao; a 1987 batch IPS officer replaced Choubey. Again, Rao was replaced by Neeraj Sinha on February 12, 2021. Both these appointments were challenged in the Supreme Court. Sinha completed his two-year tenure on February 12, 2023, paving the way for the appointment of Ajay Kumar Singh on February 15, 2023. All these appointments were challenged in the Apex Court.
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