'Next DGP Must Only Be According To Seniority'

'If you want to have fair elections you should have an officer, who is appointed as per the rules laid down for such appointments, which is based on seniority.'

IMAGE: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis with Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla. Photograph: @OfficeOfDevendra/X

Congress General Secretary Atul Londhe, tells Prasnna D Zore/Rediff.com about the presentation which the party made to the Election Commission based on which the Commission directed the Maharashtra government to immediately transfer Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla.

Shukla, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was earlier charged with tapping the phones of Opposition leaders Eknath Khadse, Nana Patole and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut when she was the commissioner, state intelligence department, during Devendra Fadnavis' tenure as chief minister.

While the two FIRs against Shukla were later quashed by the Bombay high court, the third one too was quashed after the CBI's closure report.

Shukla was appointed as Maharashtra DGP on January 4, 2024.

What was the Congress' main objection to Rashmi Shukla continuing as Maharashtra DGP?

First, it was an illegal posting (as per the Maharashtra Police Act). They (government of Maharashtra) misinterpreted the Parkash Singh Badal Vs the Union of India case (for appointing Rashmi Shukla Maharashtra DGP; in this case the Supreme Court clarified that only IPS officers who have a minimum of six months left for retirement should be considered to be appointed as DGPs).

Second, when she crossed 60 years of her (retirement) age, (the) government (of Maharashtra) had not taken consent of a special committee of the Union government (to appoint Rashmi Shukla as the DGP).

There is a committee at the central level (that looks into appointments of police officers above retirement age of 60) and if you want to appoint anybody as the DGP, the state government must seek permission from that committee.

They have now not yet taken that permission. They have to tell us whether this permission has been taken or not.

Also -- and this is very serious -- Why Rashmi Shukla? She has tapped our leaders' phones. We still believe that a host of MVA (the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi) leaders are still under surveillance.

So if you want to have fair elections you should have some other officer, who is appointed as per the rules laid down for such appointments, which is based on seniority.

What presentation did the Congress make to the Election Commission that the Commissioners were convinced to remove the Maharashtra DGP?

We have mentioned the same points (as I discussed above) to the Election Commission and we have written three letters to the EC, and they are all in public domain.

Would you be okay with whoever is the new DGP?

Let the state government appoint the new DGP as per seniority. That's it.

You should not place somebody (in the post of DGP) who is very special for you. You did that (when you came to power).

The EC has directed the Maharashtra chief secretary to form a panel of three IPS officers by Tuesday for appointment as DGP. Who do you think fits the bill as per seniority?

It should be according to seniority. We don't have, and we should not have, any specific name from our side.

Most Maharashtra governments set up an example that by being run by the rulebook and the Constitution of India. So we don't have any such specific choices from our side.

The problem is that the two senior-most officers -- Milind Phansalkar is commissioner of police (he has been temporarily assigned the additional task as Maharashtra DGP), Mumbai and Sadanand Dateji is DG, NIA (Director General, National Investigation Agency) -- will not be removed from their present post. So they will have to think of more officers.

Would the Congress trust the new DGP, whoever she or he is, to conduct free and fair elections?

That is the job of the Election Commission to take care of.

In the next 10 minutes (the interview was conducted at 1 pm on November 4) we are sending one more letter to the EC demanding that since the extension given to Rashmi Shukla was only for her appointment as the DGP and no other post, the moment the Maharashtra government removes her as the DGP, she stands retired. So she should not be given any other post in the Maharashtra police.

Her extension was valid only for her appointment as the state's DGP.

Have you sorted out all the differences among the three constituents of the Maha Vikas Agadi? Also, there are rebel candidates contesting from each of the three constituent parties. Will that affect the MVA's chances of winning the assembly election?

There are no differences (now among the three constituents of the MVA). There are no differences.

All senior leaders from the Congress like Nana Patoleji, Prithviraj Chavanji and Balasaheb Thoratji are trying their best to convince the rebels. 99 per cent of the rebels will withdraw (their nominations) by 3 pm today.

If at all somebody doesn't withdraw, our stand is very clear that there will be no friendly fight in the MVA. The MVA will fight unitedly only for the official candidates.

Are you confident of the MVA forming the next government in Maharashtra?

We will comfortably win these elections. People have themselves defeated the communal and divide-and-rule strategy of the BJP. And they are looking forward to have a good government like the MVA which focuses on employment generation, proper financial help to the farmers, women's safety and (controlling) inflation to come to power.