Politicians can't remove top cops on their whim, says Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court said on Monday that a senior police officer, who has been granted a fixed tenure, can't be removed or transferred midway on the whims and fancies of the executive, and quashed the Kerala government's decision to remove senior IPS officer T P Senkumar as DGP before completion of his two-year tenure.

Holding that political interference in police administration could shake people's confidence in the system, a bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta said the government could take action against senior police officials only if there was credible evidence.

"We also cannot overlook the fact that in the event of any law and order or public order situation, it is the policeman that is the first responder and not an officer of the administration. If the authority of the first responder were to get compromised, the citizen would not have anyone to turn to for assistance resulting in the crumbling of the rule of law. This certainly cannot be permitted," the bench said.

"This is not to say that police must be treated with kid gloves - all that is sought to be conveyed is that a certain degree of freedom is required to be given to police by insulating it from possible attempts to control its independent functioning," the bench said.

The bench said excessive control by the political executive over police had the inherent danger of making it a tool for subverting the process of law. The SC refused to give credence to the state government's allegations that the IPS officer had failed to perform his duty properly in the aftermath of Puttingal temple tragedy and Jisha murder case and there was public dissatisfaction against him.

"The opinion of serious dissatisfaction must be based on verifiable material and not a perception that the chief minister or other senior functionary might have or the public expectation that the chief minister might imagine. Quite often public opinion can be misleading or motivated," it said.

"On an overall consideration of the material on record and considering the case in its proper perspective, that is the events post the Puttingal Temple tragedy and the Jisha murder case and not the two tragedies themselves, we have no hesitation in concluding that the appellant(Senkumar) has been unfairly and arbitrarily dealt with," the bench said, directing the government to reinstate him as the state police chief.

The court directed that the DGP should have a minimum tenure of two years irrespective of the date of superannuation. Senkumar was transferred from the post of Director General of Police two days after the CPI(M)-led LDF government assumed office on May 25, 2016 and replaced by Loknath Behara.