The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday reserved the verdict after hearing all the parties on the appeal of the Punjab government and DGP Dinkar Gupta against the decision of CAT to cancel the appointment of Dinkar Gupta to the post of DGP of Punjab. All the parties completed their arguments on Wednesday before the bench of Justice Jaswant Singh and Justice Sant Prakash. After this the bench reserved its decision on the petition. DG Mohammed Mustafa of Anti Drug Special Task Force and DG Siddharth Chattopadhyay of PSPCL challenged the appointment of Dinkar Gupta to the post of DGP on 7 February last year in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). On 17 January, CAT accepted the petitions of the two and canceled the appointment of Dinkar Gupta to the post of DGP as illegal. CAT’s decision was then challenged by the Punjab government and Dinkar Gupta through a petition in the High Court.
On 21 January, the High Court stayed the order of CAT. The UPSC had filed a reply on the petition, terming Dinkar Gupta’s appointment as true and in accordance with the standards set by the Supreme Court. The Punjab government had also appealed to cancel CAT’s order citing Dinkar Gupta’s appointment as correct. On appeal, the UPSC had filed its reply, justifying the appointment of Dinkar Gupta to the post of DGP (Head of Police Force).
