KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court is hearing on the writ petition filed by former DIG of Armed Police Force Nepal Prabin Kumar Shrestha and is likely to clarify whether to support the continuation of the short-term order issued before or not.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana and Justice Kumar Chudal is hearing on the case.
DIG Shrestha had been made subject to mandatory retirement despite having one more year in office on the basis of service and age limit.
Due to the lack of cooperation from KP Oli government Shrestha had gone on technical retirement on June 23 . Shrestha had gone to the Supreme Court saying that he should be allowed to serve for one more year.
In a writ petition seeking an interim order, a single bench of Justice Anil Kumar Sinha on Friday had issued a short-term interim order stating that Shrestha should not be regarded as retired yet.
The Armed Police Regulations state that the tenure of the DIG will be four years. If there is no promotion or extension even after completion of 4 years, then there is a provision retirement. However, there is a provision in the regulations that the service period can be extended for one year if the age limit of DIG is not 56 years or the service period is not more than 30 years. In case of Shrestha, both service limit and age limit still permit him in the service for he has served in the police for 25 years and 7 months while he is only 52 years old.
As per the legal provisions, IGP Shailendra Khanal had submitted a proposal to the Home Ministry on May 30 to extend Shrestha’s tenure for one more year. However, the government went indifferent to the proposal.
Earlier, the Oli-led government had extended the tenure of DIG Khadgajit Rai and Mandeep Shrestha in January and AIG Pushparam KC and Ram Sharan Poudel in April.
Provided the court decision goes in Shrestha’s favor, he will also get chance to lead the command of Armed Police Force before retirement.
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