Andhra Pradesh says no, dinesh files plea

Hyderabad: The state government on Thursday rejected a representation made by V. Dinesh Reddy to continue him as DGP till September 30, 2014. The government submitted a memo to this effect to the Hyderabad bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal on the latter’s direction. Aggrieved by the memo, Reddy on Thursday moved an application before the tribunal and urged it to direct the state government to continue him till the end of September 2014. Reddy had represented to the state government on August 21 contending that his appointment was made in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court. State to wait for CAT word N. Vamsi Srinivas Top state officials are yet to come to a consensus on the selection process of the new DGP. The selection of a new police chief appears imminent with the government informing the Central Administrative Tribunal that it is against continuing with the current DGP, V. Dinesh Reddy, after he attains superannuation. However, the government will make the next move after the CAT decides on Dinesh Reddy’s plea to continue until September 2014, following Supreme Court directions in the Prakash Singh case. Some officials were of the view that there was no need to send a list of names to the UPSC for selection of the DGP. The home ministry is also against UPSC intervention as appointing the police chief is the prerogative of states, an official said. Another official was in favour of following the earlier procedure in order to avoid litigation. “The UPSC route is convenient if the CM wants to name ACB DG B. Prasada Rao the DGP,” he said. Though Rao and another contender, home principal secretary T.P. Das. belong to the 1979 batch, the former is below Das in the seniority list. The UPSC route will help the government avoid the legal complications that may arise out of ignoring seniority because the state will have power to pick any of the names in the panel approved by the UPSC.