The Maharashtra government Friday appointed Anti-Corruption Bureau chief Rajnish Seth as the new director general of police. The government’s hand was forced after the Bombay High Court pulled it up last week for “favouring” acting DGP Sanjay Pandey “out of its way” and asked it to decide on the new DGP by February 21.
One of the three officers recommended for the top job by the Union Public Service Commission,Seth belongs to the 1988 batch of the Indian Police Service. He was acting DGP till April 2021, when Pandey took over. His father SK Seth was an additional director of the CBI.
The high court on Thursday said the government had gone out of its way to increase Pandey’s grades in the annual confidential report, adding that “such an officer should never be considered for the post of DGP”. Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the court that the government was prepared to reconsider its position, and was allowed two weeks’ time. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil later held a meeting but could not decide on the new DGP.
The bench had also said a decision must be taken (on the commission’s recommendation in line with the Prakash Singh judgement on police reforms) on the next date of hearing, February 21.
On April 10, 2021, the government asked Pandey to oversee an investigation against former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh.
On March 18, 2021, a proposal to appoint Pandey as the DGP was sent for the commission’s approval. The commission, after seeking a lot of details, eventually did not include his name in the list of the three recommended IPS officers.
After high court rap, Maharashtra appoints Rajnish Seth police chief
