A lawyer named ML Sharma who has filed a contempt action plea in the Supreme Court against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the ground of appointing Rakesh Asthana as the chief of Delhi Police has urged for an urgent hearing of his petition.
The Apex Court today informed the lawyer that listing of his petition for hearing depends upon the number accorded to it by the registry.
"I have filed a contempt petition against the appointment of Rakesh Asthana," ML Sharma said.
"If it is numbered, we will post it for hearing," a bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana told the lawyer.
According to the petition, the Prime Minister, who is the head of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, and the Home Minister jointly decided and appointed Rakesh Asthana as the Delhi Police Commissioner.
This, the petition alleges, is against the judgement of the top court in the Prakash Singh case.
In his petition, ML Sharma said that according to the Supreme Court's judgement, a person must have a "minimum of three months of service left prior to his appointment as the DGP".
Rakesh Asthana, a 1984-batch IPS officer, was appointed as the Delhi Police Commissioner on July 27. His appointment came just days before his superannuation on July 31.
(With PTI Inputs)
