"Filing PIL Is Industry Now": Centre On Plea Against Delhi Police Chief

Rakesh Asthana told the court that there is a sustained social media campaign against him and the legal challenge to his appointment was an abuse of process of law, arising from vendetta.

Filing Public Interest Litigations (PILs) has become an industry and a career in itself, the Centre said in the Delhi High Court today as it argued that the appointment of Gujarat-cadre Indian Police Services (IPS) officer Rakesh Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner deserved no intervention.

"(They say) there are good officers. Who are they? Are they the persons who possibly felt aggrieved? PIL is an industry, a career by itself, which was not envisaged," Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued before a bench headed by Chief Justice DN Patel which reserved its verdict on lawyer Sadre Alam's PIL against Rakesh Asthana's appointment.

Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, stated that Rakesh Asthana was appointed as the Police Commissioner of Delhi after following all due procedures, as applicable to the national capital, and a PIL could not be permitted to be a "forum for settling scores".

Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, representing Rakesh Asthana, claimed before the bench, which also comprised Justice Jyoti Singh, that the petitioner was "a proxy for somebody who does not want to come in the front" and holds "personal vendetta".