Four Special Commissioner posts in Delhi Police lie vacant for over a month

Among them, the Special Cell — the elite anti-terror unit — has not had a full-time Special Commissioner for over one-and-a-half months. The other three divisions have been awaiting appointments for nearly a month.

Delhi Police spokesperson Sanjay Tyagi declined to comment on the delay but stated that all four units are currently being overseen by link officers or officers given additional charge.

To be sure, Delhi got a new Commissioner just last month. Satish Golcha was appointed Delhi Police chief by the Ministry of Home Affairs in August.

This is the first time in decades that the posts of Special Commissioners have remained vacant for such an extended period.

Currently, there are 20 Special Commissioner posts, equivalent in rank to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in states. These are the highest-ranking positions within individual units; officers appointed to these posts report directly to the Police Commissioner.

The senior-most post is that of the head, HRD, at the Police Headquarters.

“The exact reason for the delay in postings is not known. It is possible that there is a shortage of senior IPS officers to oversee key units like HRD and Security,” a police source said.

A major reshuffle took place on January 12, 2024, when 11 Special Commissioners and 16 DCP-rank officers were transferred following an order from the Delhi Lt-Governor.

The post of Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) was vacated after 1991-batch IPS officer Vivek Gogia retired on July 31.

The HRD and LLD posts fell vacant after the transfers of Nuzhat Hassan and Virender Singh Chahal — both 1991-batch IPS officers — to the positions of Director General (Home Guards) and Director General (Civil Defence), respectively, on August 23.

The post of Special Commissioner of Police (Security) fell vacant after 1996-batch IPS officer Jaspal Singh retired on August 31.

According to an officer, there were times in 2015 when the Delhi Police had multiple Special Commissioners. In fact, the force had to create additional posts at the Police Headquarters to accommodate them, the officer said.