Hyderabad: Appointment of IPS officer as FSL director challenged

Hyderabad: The division bench of Telangana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T Vinod Kumar, on Monday heard the PIL challenging the decision of the BRS government in appointing an IPS officer as the director of the Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory. It directed the petitioner Pabbathi Sai Kumar, a law student from Hyderabad. to implead Shikha Goel, IPS, director, to PIL for further adjudication and adjourned the hearing by a week.

The counsel for the petitioner said the forensic science laboratory plays a crucial role in assisting an investigating officer in carrying out the process by providing important findings about the case, which helps the IO in cracking the case and punishing the accused.

The work turned out by the FSL is directly related to convictions and acquittal of the accused; under these circumstances, the laboratory has to be headed by forensic scientist only, not an IPS officer.

The TSFSL was headed by a forensic scientist since its inception, but from 2015 onwards, the government has been posting an IPS officer to head the coveted FSL, in contravention of rules promulgated in the National Accreditation Board of Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL). The board clearly says a forensic scientist should only be posed as the director, not any other officer from any other departments. Since 2015 four IPS officers have been posted as directors of TSFSL.

The bench was hearing the WP(PIL)52/2023 filed by Kumar, challenging the decision of the government of appointing an IPS officer as director of TSFSL.