Lokniti Foundation Secretary vs. Union Of India Ministry Of Home Affairs Secretary

ITEM NO.21 COURT NO.1 SECTION PIL-W

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

IA No. 144787/2022 and 144785/2022 in Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s).310/1996

PRAKASH SINGH & ORS. Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA Respondent(s)

(IA No. 144787/2022 - APPROPRIATE ORDERS/DIRECTIONS IA No. 144785/2022 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION)

Date : 09-12-2022 These applications were called on for hearing today.

CORAM :

HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA

Mr. Raju Ramachandran, Sr. Adv. (A.C.) Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, Adv. (A.C.)

For Petitioner(s)

Mr. Prashant Bhushan, AOR

Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, AOR

For Respondent(s)/ Ms. Kaveeta Wadia, Adv. For Applicant Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Dr. Shiva Sharma, Adv.

• Mr. Ravinder Singh, Adv.
• Ms. Mantika Haryani, Adv.
• Mr. Shreyas Awasthi, Adv.
• Ms. Sruthi Venugopal, Adv.

Ms. Limayinla Jamir, Adv.

Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv.

Mr. Devvrat Singh, Adv. For Nagaland Mr. K.N. Balgopal, Sr. Adv., Adv.Gen. Mrs. K. Enatoli Sema, Adv.

Mr. Vitso Rio, Adv.

UPSC Mr. Naresh Kaushik, Adv. Mr. Vardhman Kaushik, Adv. Mr. Manoj Joshi, Adv. Mr. B. Purushothama Reddy, Adv.

Mr. Dhruv Joshi, Adv. Mr. Anand Singh, Adv. Mrs. Lalita Kaushik, AOR Mr. R. Venkataramani, AG Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, ASG Mr. Sanjay Jain, ASG Mr. R. Balasubramaninan, Sr. Adv. Ms. V. Mohna, Sr. Adv. Mr. Wasim Qadri, Sr. Adv. Ms. Snidha Mehra, Adv. Mr. Ankur Talwar, Adv. Mr. Chinmayee Chandra, Adv. Ms. Mrinal Elker Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Padmesh Mishra, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Neeraj Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Mukesh K Verma, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Mr. Mahfooz A. Nazki, Adv. Mr. Polanki Gowtham, Adv. Mr. Shaik Mohamad Haneef, Adv. Mr. T. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, Adv. Mr. K.V. Girish Chowdary, Adv. Mr. Naveen Sharma (Bhardwaj), Adv. Ms. Niti Richhariya, Adv. Mr. P.V. Dinesh, AOR Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Rajesh Srivastava, AOR Ms. Kaveeta Wadia, AOR Mr. Lakshmi Raman Singh, AOR Mr. Gopal Prasad, AOR Mr. Anuvrat Sharma, AOR Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR Mr. T.V. George, AOR Mr. Mohanprasad Meharia, AOR Mr. P.V. Yogeswaran, AOR

Mr. Anil Shrivastav, AOR Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR Mr. Karunesh Kumar Shukla, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR Mr. R. Ayyam Perumal, AOR Mr. B. Balaji, AOR Dr. Joseph Aristotle S., AOR Ms. Nupur Sharma, Adv. Mr. Shobhit Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Sanjeev Kr. Mahara, Adv. Ms. Vaidehi Rastogi, Adv. M/s. S. Narain & Co., AOR Mr. Prashant Bhagwati, Adv. Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR Mr. T. Harish Kumar, AOR Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. Gunnam Venkateswara Rao, AOR Mr. C.K. Sasi, AOR Mr. Abdulla Naseeh V.T., Adv. Ms. Meena K. Poulose, Adv. Mr. P. Venkat Reddy, Adv. Mr. Prashant Tyagi, Adv. Mr. P. Srinivas Reddy, Adv. M/s. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, AOR Mr. V.N. Raghupathy, AOR Mr. Manendra Pal Gupta, Adv. Mr. Md. Apzal Ansari, Adv. Mr. Prakash Jadhav, Adv. Mr. Ravichandra Jadhav,Adv. Mr. Dhanesh ieshdhan, Adv. Mr. Varun Varma, Adv. Mr. Premnath Mishra, Adv.

Mr. Abbula Kalam, Adv. Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Kumar Arnav Singh Deo, Adv. Mr. Sai Shashank, Adv. Ms. Abha R. Sharma, AOR Mr. Merusagar Samantaray, AOR Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, AOR Ms. Pratishtha Vij, Adv. Mrs. Bihu Sharma, Adv. Mr. Akshay C. Shrivastava, Adv. Mr. M. Shoeb Alam, AOR Ms. Taruna Ardhendumauli Prasad, AOR Mr. G. Prakash, AOR Dr. Manish Singhvi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Arpit Parkash, Adv. Mr. Vikalp Sharma, Adv. Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupam Ngangom, Adv.M Mr. Wahengbam Immanuel Meittei, Adv. Ms. Uttara Babbar, AOR Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR Mr. Abhishek, AOR Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR M/s. PLR Chambers & Co. Mr. Siddharth Sangal, AOR Ms. Nilanjani Tandon, Adv. Mr. Chirag Sharma, Adv. Mr. Soumya Dutta, AOR Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR

Ms. Kamakshi S. Mehlwal, AOR Ms. Jaikriti S. Jadeja, AOR Mr. Upendra Mishra, Adv. Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. vinod Ghai, Sr. Adv., Adv. Gen Mr. Aman Pal, AAG Mr. Ajay Pal, AOR Mr. Mayank Dhaiya, Adv. Mr. Kuldeep Singh Kuchaliya, Adv. Ms. Priyanka C., Adv. Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, Adv. Ms. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Siddhesh Kotwal, Adv Ms. Ana Upadhyay, Adv Ms. Manya Hasija, Adv Mr. Akash Singh, Adv Mr. Nihar Dharmadhikari, Adv Ms. Sampriti Baksi, Adv Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya A. Pande, AOR Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv. Ms. Kirti Dadheech, Adv

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

• 1 IA No 188126 of 2022 has been filed by the Union Public Service Commission1 .
• 2 Following the order of this Court dated 17 October 2022, the State of Nagaland furnished the names of two eligible officers [(i) A Sunil Acharya; and (ii) Rupin Sharma].
• 3 It appears that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has indicated that A Sunil Acharya, who is on Central deputation, does not wish to be considered for
• <span id="page-4-0"></span>1 "UPSC"

5

posting as DGP Nagaland. This has been confirmed by the officer on 16 November 2022. The State Government has furnished the ACRs of Rupin Sharma on 17 November 2022 and 18 November 2022.

• 4 The UPSC has sought sixty days' time for convening the Empanelment Committee Meeting for preparation of a panel of officers for appointment to the post of DGP Nagaland on the ground that consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs is still in progress. The application filed by the UPSC states that this will not cause any administrative dislocation since the extended tenure of the existing incumbent will be over on 28 February 2023.
• 5 The previous order of this Court has specifically referred to the manner in which the proceedings of the Police Establishment Board2 were conducted on 4 February 2022. To reiterate, the meeting of the PEB included Shri T John Longkumer as a member though his name was being considered for empanelment and was in fact empaneled. This Court was constrained to observe that "the officer participated in the meeting which directly pertained to his empanelment as DGP and for the conferment of the Apex Scale".
• 6 In view of the above observations of this Court in its order dated 17 October 2022, the UPSC must enforce the orders of this Court.
• 7 We, therefore, decline to grant a period of sixty days and direct that the final decision shall be taken on or before 19 December 2022. All necessary formalities which have to be completed shall be sorted out between the UPSC, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the State of Nagaland within the aforesaid period.

<span id="page-5-0"></span>2 "PEB"

• 8 The authorities are placed on notice that the order of the Court be complied with to obviate recourse to the coercive arm of the law to ensure compliance of the judgment of this Court in Prakash Singh v Union of India3 .
• 9 IA No 188126 of 2022 is disposed of.
• 10 List IA Nos 144787 and 144785 of 2022 on 9 January 2023.

<span id="page-6-0"></span> (SANJAY KUMAR-I) (SAROJ KUMARI GAUR) DEPUTY REGISTRAR ASSISTANT REGISTRAR