Bengal on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to recall its 2006 judgment which had ordered the appointment of director general of police in states through UPSC empanelment.

The Mamata Banerjee government’s contention is that such a role for a central agency would erode the country’s federal structure under which states alone are entitled to deal with the law enforcement machinery.

The Bengal government had on Tuesday appointed Manoj Malaviya as the DGP on a temporary basis. Sources said Malaviya had to be given the charge temporarily as the UPSC failed to send a list of three IPS officers from whom the state was to choose the DGP.

The state government has moved the application in the case of Amicus Curiae Vs UoI, in which senior advocate Harish Salve had approached the court in 2018 alleging violations of the judgment by a large number of states.

Salve had been appointed the amicus curiae in the case by the Supreme Court.

According to the Bengal government, the impugned order passed in 2006 and subsequently reiterated in 2018 with certain modifications ought to be recalled as the Constitution neither vest the UPSC with the task of appointing the DGP nor does it have the expertise to empanel such officers for the crucial posts.