Chandigarh, May 2 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has refused to interfere with the Punjab director general of police's (DGP) 2022 order of prematurely retiring an assistant sub-inspector, stating that it cannot infringe upon a competent authority's right.

The bench of justice Jagmohan Bansal held that the appropriate authority may order to prematurely retire any officer if it is in the public interest. However, conditions, as spelt in the service rules, must be complied with.

As per the Civil Services (Premature Retirement) Rules, 1975, the order should be passed by the appropriate authority, the authority must be of the opinion that it is in the public interest to do so, the employee should be given prior notice in writing, the e...