New Delhi: A lawyer who has filed a contempt action plea in the Supreme Court against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for appointing Rakesh Asthana as the Delhi Police chief has sought an urgent hearing of his petition.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday told lawyer M L Sharma that his petition will be listed for hearing if the registry has accorded a number to it.
"I have filed a contempt petition against the appointment of Rakesh Asthana," Sharma said.
"If it is numbered, we will post it for hearing," a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana told the lawyer.
According to the petition, the prime minister, who is the head of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, and the home minister jointly decided and appointed Asthana as the Delhi Police Commissioner.
This, the petition alleges, is against the judgement of the top court in the Prakash Singh case.
In his petition, Sharma said that according to the apex court's judgement, a person must have a "minimum of three months of service left prior to his appointment as the DGP".
He also urged the court to declare the notification announcing the officer’s appointment as “illegal.” He had further argued that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah are both party to this contempt of court. “
A 1984-batch IPS officer, Asthana was appointed as the Delhi Police Commissioner on July 27. His appointment came just days before his superannuation on July 31. An order by the Union Home Ministry - to whom Delhi Police reports - said Asthana had been given a year's extension in service granted "in public interest".
The announcement of Asthana’s appointment was made by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC). The Delhi Police reports to the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA).
During his stint in the CBI in 2018, he was engaged in an unsavoury spat with the then CBI Director Alok Verma with both of them levelling allegations of corruption against each other.
