By TCN News,
Kochi: The Kerala High Court acknowledged the appointment of Adv T Asaf Ali as the Director General of Prosecutions. It added that the prior permission of the High Court needed not be secured for the appointment of the DGP.
The division bench comprising of acting Chief Justice CN Ramachandran Nair and Js PS Gopinathan issued the order in the petition submitted by Adv EA Thankappan pointing out that the Criminal Procedure Code was not followed while appointing the DGP. The High Court had stayed the appointment of Asaf Ali on July 28 by an interim order.
The petitioner had argued that as per the Criminal Procedure Code, the High Court Chief Justice should be consulted before the appointment of the DGP and that he should have 10 years’ experience as a criminal lawyer. But Asafali who claims to have experience in Thalasseri, Kannur and Kozhikode courts does not have enough experience in dealing criminal cases, he reportedly said.
However, Advocate General KP Dandapani who represented the government argued that Adv Asaf Ali had more than 10 years’ experience in dealing criminal cases. The appointment of the DGP comes under the purview of the state government as per the Constitution. The state government has appointed the DGP in Kerala for the last 25 years. The court then rejected the petition saying there was no reason to annul the appointment.