SC for sound order on police chiefs'' appointment process

New Delhi, Dec 17 (PTI) The Supreme Court today decidedto make a closer scrutiny of the process of appointing statepolice chiefs to evolve a system for it on a constitutionalbasis and not merely as a stop-gap arrangement while alsofactoring its limitation that it does not govern the country.

"We want to know if it is permissible for the court tointerfere with the affairs concerning the federal structure ofthe country," said a bench a Chief Justice S H Kapadia whiledealing with a plea for implementation of the court''s variousdirections on police reform given in September 2006.

The bench made the remarks while examining if thestates should have a decisive say in appointment of theirpolice chiefs or they should pick them out of a list of threesenior most, eligible officers, made by UPSC as per thecourt''s September 2006 ruling on police reform.

"We should put it on a constitutional basis, otherwiseit will be a temporary step, just to fill the gap," said thebench, which also included justices Aftab Alam and K SRadhakrishnan.

While expressing its intention to delve deep into theissue, the bench also reminded it of its limitations saying,"at the same time, we have to keep in mind that we are notgoverning the country."

While discussing the issue of appointment of statepolice chiefs, the bench also briefly dwelt on the issue ofappointment of chiefs of various central police forces,including the Central Bureau of Investigation and asked theCentre to apprise it of the process adopted for appointing CBIDirector.