Kerala seeks Supreme Court clarification on DGP reinstatement

Thiruvananthapuram: More than a week after the Supreme Court ordered the reinstatement of TP Senkumar as Kerala's Director General of Police, the state government on Wednesday moved the apex court to seek clarifications in the case.

On April 24, the Supreme Court had directed Kerala to reinstate the senior Indian Police Ssrvice officer as the Director General of Police. Senkumar was removed from the post when Pinarayi Vijayan took over as Chief Minister on May 25, 2016.

Reinstating Senkumar, a bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta said the officer was dealt with "unfairly and arbitrarily". 

The government`s petition has now sought clarification on what needs to be done in case of top police officers -- present DGP Loknath Behra, Jacob Thomas and Shankar Reddy -- all of whom hold the rank of the DGP.

The Kerala government move follows a direction from state Advocate General C P Sudhakara Prasad.

Senkumar`s petition, to come up for hearing on Friday, has questioned the delay in implementing the apex court order for his reinstatement.

Senkumar told the media here on Wednesday that he does not have any confrontational attitude against the Left government and he is awaiting orders from the Kerala government as per the apex court directions.

On Tuesday, the Chief Minister informed the assembly that his government is duty-bound to abide by the Supreme Court order and it is just awaiting legal opinion on the matter.

Senkumar is set to retire on June 30.