Lucknow: With its acting Director General of Police (DGP) D. S. Chauhan retiring Friday, the Uttar Pradesh government handed over the charge to R. K. Vishwakarma — second in the IPS seniority list — the same day, making him the state’s second consecutive acting DGP.
While the government’s statement issued Friday does not mention the term ‘acting DGP’, it said additional charge of the post of DGP is being handed over to DG (police recruitment and promotion board) Vishwakarma till a permanent appointment on the post.
The state hasn’t had a permanent DGP since Mukul Goel was removed from the post last year. Vishwakarma himself is set to retire on 31 May.
The day also saw the transfer of five senior officers of the state, two of them elevated as ‘special DGs’ — a practice started by former chief minister Mayawati’s government whose reign was known for strict implementation of law and order.
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Names for permanent DGP yet to be sent
The state government is yet to send a panel of names of IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for appointment to the post of permanent DGP for the state, in accordance with the Supreme Court directions.
After unceremoniously removing 1987-batch IPS officer Mukul Goel from the post in May 2022 citing “disregard of government duty, lack of interest in departmental work” and alleged indolence, the Yogi Adityanath government had sent a list of around 38 IPS officers to the UPSC for consideration in September last year.
However, the UPSC asked why Goel was removed in the first place and asked the government to send a list of all officers eligible for the post as of May 2022 — when Goel was removed.
While media reports said the government had explained Goel’s removal, there was no official word on it.
Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines, an officer needs to have completed 30 years in service to be considered for the post of DGP.
“The government has to send a list of all those officers who have completed 30 years in service to the UPSC and have at least six months of service left. The UP government sent a list of all the officers who met both the conditions as on 1 September 2022,” a senior officer privy to the developments told ThePrint.
The revised list hasn’t yet been sent to the UPSC.
There were also rumours that the government intended to give D. S. Chauhan a service extension but clearly, that hasn’t happened either.
More appointments
The Yogi government has transferred five senior IPS officers with at least two of the 1990 batch elevated by creating non-cadre posts of “special DG”. Non-cadre posts are the ones which do not find a mention in the schedule of the Indian Police Service Rules (Cadre), ex-UP DGP Sulkhan Singh told ThePrint.
“Cadre posts are those which are listed in the schedule of IPS rules by title. All other posts that the state government can create are non-cadre posts,” he said.
ADG (law and order) Prashant Kumar and ADG (crime) Manmohan Kumar Bashal have been elevated to the post of special DG and the former’s responsibilities have been increased.
Kumar is now special DG (law and order) and special DG (crime) and also has the additional charge of DG (economics offences wing).
Bashal, who was serving as the ADG (crime), is now elevated as special DG (UP power corporation).
Senior officer Vijaya Kumar, who was serving as DG (CB-CID), has been given the additional charge of DG (vigilance).
DG (prison administration and reforms) Anand Kumar has been appointed as the DG (corporation cell) while S.N. Sabat, who was serving as the DG (UP power corporation), has been appointed as the DG (prison administration and reforms).
‘Special DGs were last in Maya govt’
Former DGP Sulkhan Singh said the trend of creating non-cadre posts and appointing IPS officers on them was started by former CM and Samajwadi Party chief late Mulayam Singh Yadav.
“The trend was started in Mulayam Singh government in 1991 when a post of additional DGP was created on the lines of DGP (small state). This enabled an ADG rank officer to have the same pay scale as DGP (small state). In those times, there used to be two kinds of DGPs- DGP (small state) and DGP (big state).”
“Since UP is a big state and too many DGs could not be appointed, hence, it was a way to ensure that despite being junior, the officers appointed as ADGs got the same pay scale as that of a DGP (small state),” he added.
“Later, Mayawati started the trend of appointing special DGs. This ensured that those who will not be able to become DGs in their career and are likely to retire on a junior post are also able to get the same pay scale as that of a DG,” he said.
Retired IPS officer O.P. Singh who served as the DGP in Yogi’s first tenure, told ThePrint that the appointment of officers by creating special DG posts was a “promotion of sorts in terms of the pay scale”.
“This system is in vogue in Madhya Pradesh where the government had been appointing several special DGs. It is like creating the posts of additional chief secretary (ACS) from the pool of IAS officers. So while, there is only one chief secretary, there can be many additional chief secretaries. Similarly, while there will be only one DGP, there can be several special DGs,” he said.
The Yogi government has also appointed several additional chief secretaries who enjoy the same pay scale as the chief secretary.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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