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SC on Ad Hoc DGP
February 8 , 2026
12 hrs 0 min
16
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- The Supreme Court observed that States were avoiding appointment of regular Director-Generals of Police (DGPs) with a fixed tenure of two years.
- They are opting instead for “acting” police chiefs of their choice in violation of a 20-year-old top court judgment.
- The court, in a 2006 judgment in the Prakash Singh case, had made it clear that the office of DGP should be divorced from political or other external pressures and cautioned governments against mixing politics and law enforcement.
- It had invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142 to direct that DGPs must be selected by State governments from among the three senior-most and meritorious officers empanelled by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
- The court had thrown out the “concept” of acting DGPs.
- It had held that State police chiefs should have a minimum fixed tenure of two years.
- The State concerned shall send a proposal to the UPSC three months ahead of the retirement of the incumbent DGP.
- The UPSC would prepare a panel of suitable officers.
- The State would appoint one of the empanelled officers as DGP “immediately”.
- The Bench was hearing the case of Telangana, where the UPSC said the last regular DGP retired about nine years ago, in November 2017.
- The State had not forwarded any proposals to initiate the appointment of a regular DGP.
- Instead, it was choosing to carry on with ‘acting’ DGPs at the helm of its police force.
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