AP HC suspends Justice Kanagaraj's appointment

Amaravati, Sep 16 (PTI): The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday suspended an order of the state government appointing retired judge of Madras High Court V Kanagaraj as Chairman of the AP State Police Complaints Authority.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice N Jaya Surya gave an interim order on a public interest litigation filed by an advocate P Kishore, challenging the appointment of Justice Kanagaraj.

The bench served notices to the state government and Principal Secretary (Home) directing them to file a counter in the case and posted the matter for further hearing six weeks later, according to the petitioner’s lawyer Indraneel Babu.

On June 20, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government issued a GO, No. 57, on Justice Kanagaraj’s appointment.

The government modified its own rules, framed in October last year, to rehabilitate Justice Kanagaraj in the new post, close to a year after the Supreme Court removed him as the State Election Commissioner.

As per the Andhra Pradesh State-Level Police Complaints Authority (Administration and Procedure) Rules, 2020, only those below the age of 65 years are eligible for appointment as the Authority Chairman.

The government had to relax the Rule 4 (a) to enable his appointment as Justice Kanagaraj was 78-year-old.

The petitioner contended that the Police Complaints Authority should function independently without political or executive interference, in accordance with the Supreme Court judgment..

He said Justice Kanagaraj was first appointed as the SEC but the court struck it down.

Subsequently, he was appointed to the PCA because of his closeness to the Chief Minister. Even the rules (of appointment) were modified, in violation of the Apex Court verdict, the petitioner contended.

He appealed to the court to call for the relevant note file and strike down the GO.

After hearing the arguments, the division bench suspended the GO and issued notices to the government.

The AP State Police Complaints Authority is mandated to look into complaints against officers of the rank of Additional Superintendent of Police and above.

It shall take into cognisance of allegations of serious misconduct by the police personnel, which would include incidents involving death, grievous hurt or rape in police custody.

The Police Complaints Authority has been set up in accordance with the judgement of the Supreme Court in a civil writ petition on September 22, 2006.