New Delhi: Delhi Police commissioner Rakesh Asthana has told the Delhi High Court that petitions challenging his appointment are not bonafide public interest litigations but are flagrant abuse of the forum of the Court for some hidden personal vendetta to derail his career.
Asthana, in his affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court, said two organisations, namely Common Cause and Centre for Public Interest Litigations, are professional public interest litigants and exist only for filing litigations as the only way of public service.
Asthana apprised the Court that individuals running these two organisations in the recent past for some oblique and undisclosed reason have started a barrage of selective actions against him out of some vendetta.
He further added that as a part of this selective campaign, proceedings are being consistently filed against him by the two organisations, while outside court the people having control of the said organisations spearhead a malicious campaign against him.
"This has been regularly happening since I was appointed as Special Director in Central Bureau of Investigation," Asthana said, in his affidavit filed through advocates Diksha Rai and Devanshi Singh.
"I state and submit that the below-mentioned facts are sufficient for me to believe that both the present petitioner and the petitioner before the Supreme Court of India are entertaining a personal vengeance against the deponent (Asthana). These petitions are, therefore, not bonafide public interest litigations but are a flagrant abuse of august forum of this Hon'ble Court for some hidden personal vendetta of either of them or of someone on whose behest several attempts are being made against me to derail my career," the affidavit said.
"I state and submit that as a part of this selective campaign against me, proceedings are being consistently filed against me by these two organisations, while outside court the people having control of the said organisation spearhead a malicious campaign against me. This has been regularly happening since I was appointed as Special Director in Central Bureau of Investigation," read the affidavit filed by Asthana.
Asthana said that there is a malicious campaign propagated either through tweets or articles or shadow PILs against him.
"This personal vendetta or a proxy war is projected under the cloak of public interest litigation," Asthana said urging the Court not to allow such attempts against him.
The Centre had earlier justified the appointment of Asthana as Delhi Police Commissioner and said that he was given charge because he had the exposure of complexities of governance and knowledge of nuances of broad canvas policing.
The Centre urged the Delhi High Court to dismiss the petition as well as the Interlocutory Application challenging Asthana's appointment as Delhi Police commissioner with exemplary costs.
The Court was hearing a petition filed by Sadre Alam seeking direction for quashing the order issued by the central government appointing Rakesh Asthana, IPS as the Commissioner of Police, Delhi and for quashing the order dated July 27, 2021, of the ACC granting inter-cadre deputation and extension of service.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan had also filed an intervention application in the matter.
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