MUSTAFA WITHDRAWS PLEA AGAINST HC STAY ON CAT QUASHING DGP’S APPOINTMENT
Punjab advocate general says SC dismissed senior cop’s appeal; petitioner’s counsel says they took decision after state govt assures of not seeking any adjournment in the case in HC
NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH : Punjab director general of police (DGP human rights) Mohammad Mustafa on Friday withdrew his petition in the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court order granting stay on the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT)’S decision to quash the appointment of Dinkar Gupta as the state police chief.
Mustafa’s move came after an assurance by the state government that the case will be argued in the high court on February 26, thus allaying his apprehensions that a delay in deciding the case will deprive him of a chance to be considered for the top post.
The SC website showed the status of the case as “dismissed as withdrawn”.
The statement by the Punjab government, which was represented by Attorney General of India KK Venugopal, was recorded by a bench of justices S Abdul Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna.
The high court had on January 21 stayed an order of the CAT which had set aside the appointment of Gupta.
Mustafa had, in 2019, challenged Gupta’s appointment as the state police chief in the Chandigarh bench of CAT. The tribunal on January 17 held that the selection process followed for Gupta’s appointment was in contravention of the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in two judgments of 2006 and 2019 (Prakash Singh vs. Union of India). The Punjab government and Dinkar Gupta had challenged the CAT order in the high court.
In a special leave petition (SLP) filed by Mustafa in the Supreme Court, his main concern was that the hearing in the high court could be delayed since his service is due to end in February 2021.
As per the 2019 judgment of the Supreme Court in Prakash Singh vs. Union of India, a person who is to be selected as DGP should have a minimum residual tenure of 6 months and should not be on the verge of retirement.
Mustafa argued that if his selection was not considered latest by August 2020 (as 6 months tenure is necessary for being considered for the DGP’S post), then he will be left out of the selection process despite having succeeded in the CAT.
WAR OF WORDS
After the SC hearing, Punjab advocate general Atul Nanda said in a statement that the Supreme Court declined relief to ‘Punjab DGP hopeful’ Mustafa and the development is a major setback for him.
“With the apex court declining to interfere in the SLP against the interim stay granted by the high court, Mustafa’s counsel PS Patwalia chose to withdraw the petition, paving the way for the HC to hear the matter on February 26 as scheduled,” the advocate general’s statement read.
KK Venugopal and Nanda said
MUSTAFA TERMS A STATEMENT BY STATE ADVOCATE GENERAL ATUL NANDA OVER THE CASE MISLEADING; SAYS WILL FILE CONTEMPT PLEA AGAINST HIM
the state government will contest the matter and argue it in the high court. Initially, it was claimed that the SC dismissed Mustafa’s petition. But the Mustafa group rejected these claims by putting a message on a Whatsapp group. “The hearsay floated by the other group that Mustafa’s petition was dismissed is the sign of their frustration,” the message read.
Ejaz Maqbool, who filed Mustafa’s plea in the apex court, claimed that the petitioner withdrew the petition after the attorney general told the court that they will not seek any adjournment in the high court during the next hearing on February 26 and would argue the case.
“The press statement by the Punjab advocate general over the case is misleading. We will initiate contempt proceedings against him for disrespecting what happened in the apex court. I withdrew the petition after the attorney general assured the court that they will not seek any adjournment in the case. I fail to understand what Nanda is trying to convey,” said Mustafa.