Gandhinagar, Nov 30 (IANS): The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday ordered the Election Commission to file their reply by December 5 on a PIL seeking regular appointment of a Director General of Police (DGP) in the state.

The state's chief electoral officer B.B. Swain told the media on Wednesday that the court had given them a deadline to file their reply on the matter of regular appointment of the DGP.

Former IPS officer Rahul Sharma had moved the PIL alleging that since 2016, the state had been avoiding the appointment of a regular DGP and continued with an in-charge and argued that due to this, the police force was demoralized. There was a possibility that a political party in power could influence the in-charge officer, which was less probable if there was a regular DGP, he said.

Following the high court's notice, the state government had submitted that the police force was under the Election Commission at present because of the Model Code of Conduct and it could not make a move. The court then issued notice to the poll panel.

In his PIL, Sharma had contended: "It is the state's obligation to appoint a regular DGP from the three seniormost IPS officers, who can serve in the office for a minimum of two years from the date of taking over."

The petition was heard by the bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice Vipul Pancholi.