UP gets its fourth ‘acting’ DGP; six more states, one UT have acting police chiefs

While Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, UP and Punjab have had such temporary DGPs for almost or more than a year, three other states, Uttarakhand, Odisha and West Bengal, and the Union Territory of J&K, have recently appointed “acting DGPs”.

Such action is in complete violation of the Supreme Court guidelines on DGP appointments in the Prakash Singh case and the guidelines issued by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The apex court has clearly said no temporary or ad hoc appointments of police chiefs must be made barring exceptional circumstances. UPSC guidelines say states must send a list of eligible officers, with at least three senior-most officers, to the Commission six months before the retirement of the incumbent DGP.

“Honourable Supreme Court had assigned this task (of preparing guidelines) to the UPSC. But unless we receive a proposal which is complete in all respects from the concerned states, we have no role to play at all in this,” UPSC Chairman Manoj Soni said.

States are either not sending proposals, or the proposals have technical errors, prompting the Commission to send these proposals back.

Further, there has been no hearing in the principal Prakash Singh case for implementation of police reforms for the past three-and-a-half years. “This trend of appointing acting DGPs is contrary to SC directions and does not conform to any state-level legislation either. This matter should be taken up by the SC. My application to the court in this regard is also pending,” former UP DGP and police reforms crusader Prakash Singh said.

A questionnaire on the issue sent to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, which is the cadre controlling authority of the IPS, did not elicit any response. Queries were also sent to chief secretaries of all concerned states and union territories, but no response was received.

Sources in the administration of these states, however, pointed out “flaws” in the SC judgement in the Prakash Singh case. They said the order is such that UPSC invariably chooses the three senior-most police officers from the list sent to it by the states, and the state government is forced to choose one among them. The CM should have some discretion over who is best suited to lead the police force. The government’s choice may not necessarily be among the three senior-most, they said.

The case of UP is special. It has had three “acting DGPs” in succession since May, 2022. On Wednesday, the state got its fourth. After removing then DGP, 1987-batch IPS officer Mukul Goel, for “lack of interest towards work”, the state appointed 1988 batch IPS officer Devendra Singh Chauhan as acting DG. Following his retirement on March 31, 2022, 1988 batch IPS officer Raj Kumar Vishwakarma was made acting DG. Then on May 31, upon retirement, Vishwakarma was replaced by Vijay Kumar as acting DG. Vijay Kumar had superseded his senior Anand Kumar, and retired Wednesday.

In Andhra Pradesh, the YSRCP government appointed 1992 batch IPS officer Kasireddy Rajendranath Reddy as acting Andhra DGP in February 2023. There were nine eligible IPS officers of the cadre who were senior to Reddy then. He continues in the post.

In Telangana, the Election Commission promptly removed Anjani Kumar, who as acting DG, was photographed with Congress state president Revanth Reddy at his residence after vote counting trends of the Assembly elections on December 3, 2023. The state then appointed 1990-batch IPS officer Ravi Gupta as acting DGP of Telangana. The new Reddy government has continued with the practice, It appointed Gautam, the senior-most IPS officer in the state, and has not yet been made a regular DGP.

The Punjab government under AAP gave additional charge of the state DGP to 1992 batch IPS officer Gaurav Yadav in July 2022 after then incumbent DGP, the1987 batch IPS officer VK Bhawra proceeded on two months leave. However, when Bhawra returned on September 2, the AAP government transferred him as chairman of Punjab Police Housing Corporation. While Yadav continues to remain acting DGP, Bhawra has challenged his removal in the Central Administrative Tribunal. Apart from Bhawra, there are five IPS officers senior to Yadav and eligible for DGP’s post in Punjab.

In J&K, the Centre handed over the additional charge of the UT DGP to 1992 batch IPS officer RR Swain in October, 2023. Swain also heads the UT’s CID. There are seven eligible officers senior to him in the AGMUT cadre.

In Uttarakhand, the Pushkar Singh Dhami government gave additional charge of state DGP to 1996 batch IPS officer Abhinav Kumar in November, 2023. Again, Kumar’s name was in the list of three officers sent to UPSC for DGP’s post. The other two were 1995 batch IPS officer Deepam Seth and PVK Prasad.

In Odisha, the Navin Patnaik government appointed 1990 batch IPS officer Arun Kumar Sarangi as acting DGP on December 31, 2023. There are seven IPS officers senior to Sarangi in the state.

In West Bengal, the Mamata Banerji government on December 27, 2023 appointed 1989 batch IPS officer Rajeev Kumar as acting DGP of the state. Though he is among the three seniormost IPS officers in the state, he has not been given full charge. Kumar had hit headlines a few years ago when CBI summoned him for questioning in the Saradha chit fund case prompting Bannerji to stage a dharna in Kolkata.

The trend of appointing acting DGPs with regularity actually started with the Centre. Before these developments, the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) regularly witnessed vacancies at the top for months on end. Former ITBP chief SS Deswal once had three forces under his command. Similarly, former CRPF chief SL Thaosen, who retired last November, had additional charge of two forces under him for months. The National Investigation Agency was without a regular chief for over one year between May, 2021 and June, 2022 with then CRPF chief Kuldiep Singh operating as acting DG of the agency. Former CP of Delhi SN Srivastava was appointed as regular CP of Delhi on the last day of his tenure, almost two years after being appointed as acting CP.