The delay in key appointments in central police organisations is creating uncertainty among Indian Police Service officers. Despite a large pool of Director General empanelled IPS officers up to the 1988 batch, who are in line to become chiefs of central police organisations, there are vacancies where additional charges are being held by a handful of officers.
On top of the list is the National Investigation Agency, which has been without a full-time chief for the last two months since the superannuation of Y.C. Modi on May 31. CRPF DG Kuldiep Singh is holding additional charge of the NIA.
Several other central police organisations are functioning without a full-time chief. These include the Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Railway Protection Force, National Crime Records Bureau, Bureau of Police Research and Development and the post of the secretary (security).
It is for the first time that NIA, the counter-terror agency set up in the aftermath of Mumbai 26/11 attacks, is without a full-time DG for two months. The agency is presently handling crucial cases such as terror financing in Jammu and Kashmir and gold smuggling in Kerala.
Singh is also handling CRPF, the largest paramilitary force handling the all-important task of assisting states in law and order and counter-insurgency duties in Jammu and Kashmir and northeast.
Similarly, after senior IPS officer Subodh Jaiswal was sent from the CISF to head the CBI on May 26, the government gave additional charge of CISF to senior IPS officer Sudhir Kumar Saxena. CISF handles the critical task of securing the vital installations in the country, including airport security.
Similarly, with BSF DG Rakesh Asthana being appointed Commissioner of Delhi Police recently, the post of BSF DG has fallen vacant. Asthana was also holding charge of NCB, which is also awaiting a full-time chief.
ITBP DG S.S. Deswal is presently holding additional charge of BSF. He is set to retire in August which will add to the list of vacancies at the top.
Sources said the government is busy drawing up a list to fill the posts.
But the home ministry seems to be facing an uphill task over its appointments in police organisations already. Months after the controversy over the selection of CBI director was settled by the government, the MHA is facing criticism over Asthana’s appointment as Delhi police commissioner, with the assembly passing a resolution asking the Delhi government to ask the home ministry to withdraw his appointment.
The 1984 batch IPS officer was appointed Delhi police chief a few days before his scheduled retirement. It was during the selection of the new CBI chief that an argument was given that no officer with less than six months of service left, can be appointed the head of a police organisation. For this, a Supreme Court order in 2019 was cited by the high-powered panel which left out Asthana and Modi. Now, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has used the same argument to resist Asthana’s appointment.
It’s also the first time that a non AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre officer has been selected as Delhi police chief - the last such appointment was of Ajay Raj Sharma, a UP cadre officer, whose tenure as Delhi police chief was successful. Those in favour of Asthana's appointment in the police fraternity as well as the government said that the decision has been taken keeping in mind the sensitive law and order situation in the capital.
Asthana is expected to take certain firm measures so that protests like those experienced in the past, especially the farmers agitation, are kept in control and does not create a headache for the government.
