By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Friday asked the union government to respond to the Union Public Service Commission’s allegation that the government was not cooperating with it in carrying out its task assigned by the court on the issue of police reform.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan issued notice also to various state governments, seeking their response to the UPSC allegation.
The bench, which also included Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B.S Chauhan, sought their response to its notices within six weeks and slated the mater for next hearing after eight weeks.
The notices were issued to the union home ministry and the Department of Personnel and Training.
The UPSC, in its application to the apex court, had recalled that the court in its ruling on police reform on Sep 22, 2006, had assigned it a specific task on the issue of appointment of police chiefs in various states and union territories.
The court had asked the UPSC to choose three most suitable and eligible police officers in the state from among the seniormost for tentative appointment of one as the police chief of the state.
The court asked the UPSC to forward its list of officers to the state government for follow-up action.
The UPSC, however, in its application to the court said that despite the apex court ruling the union government never conferred upon it the power to make relevant rules and lay down the procedure for adhering to the court order.
It said it subsequently sought the union government’s opinion on the procedures and rules suggested by it, but the union government ignored its repeated communication.
While adjudicating the issue of police reforms in the country, the apex court also sought the Thomas Committee’s latest status report on implementation of its 2006 ruling on police reform.