The state government is looking into the possibility of implementing the Supreme Court judgement in the Prakash Singh case regarding selection of the director-general of police in toto which would give V. Dinesh Reddy an unexpected extension. The Supreme Court had categorically stated that “once (the DGP) has been selected for the job, he (or she) should have a minimum tenure of at least two years irrespective of his (or her) date of superannuation”.
Thus, Mr Reddy, who is due to retire in June 2013 will continue to serve till September 2014 if the judgement is implemented in letter and spirit. Explaining the rationale behind the fixed tenure, the court had said that frequent and indiscriminate transfers ordered on political considerations and other unhealthy influences were impacting police functioning. This newspaper had reported earlier that sources were of the view that Mr Reddy could become DGP again even if the state government followed the court directive as he is the senior-most serving officer after Mr Umesh Kumar, who is currently under suspension. Mr Gautam Kumar, another officer senior to Mr Reddy, has retired.