Can you imagine a police force without an effective command and control structure or being led by an officer who is himself a part-time boss, holding a ‘temporary’ post? Also can you imagine the plight of an organisation which does not have a functional DG whose complete time and attention is devoted to one organization and who takes all decisions in the best interests of the Organisation after knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the men he commands?
Unfortunately this is the case with many central and state police organisations which are without a regular Chief, or Head in spite of many – at times more than required – capable, and eligible officers in the queue — waiting to be promoted or posted. As a result, there is considerable resentment and heartburn at the top-most three-star Director General of Police (DGP) in the police forces as many deserving officers at the fag-end of their career retire from service without getting the chance or opportunity to lead the organisation they might have served meritoriously as IG or ADG.
The Director General of Police (DGP) is the highest-ranking IPS officer responsible for overseeing the functioning of 17 Central organizations including CRPF, CISF, BSF, SSB, ITBP, NSG, besides CBI, IB, and RAW besides the police force and law enforcement agencies in the states and union territories. The DGP – usually a three-star rank IPS officer holds significant authority and plays a crucial role in maintaining law and order, implementing crime prevention strategies, and ensuring public safety. The Director General of Police is the head of a police organisation for all administrative and operational purposes.
Keeping this in mind the Supreme Court of India in the landmark Prakash Singh case of 2006 had issued clear cut directives to ensure transparency, meritocracy, and stability in the leadership of state police forces while appointing the Director General of Police (Head of Police Force).
Supreme Court Directives
The Supreme Court directives in the Prakash Singh case highlighted the need to reform the police appointment process, and emphasized the need for a transparent and merit-based selection system. Key aspects of these directives include:
- Consultation with UPSC: State governments should consult the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) before appointing a DGP and submit the names of eligible officers to UPSC at least three months before the retirement of the incumbent DGP’s.
- Preparation of Panel: The UPSC should prepare a panel of at least three suitable officers deemed fit for appointment to the post of DGP based on seniority, service record, and experience. The list of such officers deemed fit for promotion was then to be sent back to the state government, which in turn was required to appoint one of the shortlisted officers as the DGP.
- Minimum Tenure: The selected DGP was mandated to have a minimum tenure of at least two years, irrespective of the date of superannuation. The aim behind this, was to provide stability and continuity in police leadership.
- Eligibility Criteria: Only officers with a minimum of 30 years of service and holding the rank of Additional Director General (ADG) or equivalent were to be considered for the post of DGP. This apart to be considered for appointment as DGP, the officers should have at least six months of service left before retirement at the time of their empanelment.
- No Acting DGPs: The Supreme Court had explicitly rejected the practice of appointing “Acting DGPs,” and directed the states to appoint only permanent DGP to ensure stable leadership.
Paradoxically, despite the best intentions many of the Supreme Court directives have been ignored remain good only on paper.
Interim / Acting DGPs
Several states have tried to bypass this requirement through legal and executive orders, asserting that since ‘police’ and ‘public order’ are state subjects, hence DGP appointment should exclusively be the prerogative of the respective states. More than one state has chosen to completely bypass the SC order by posting what they call an “Interim DGP” for whom they are not obliged to go through the prescribed procedure. In fact, some officers retired as Interim DGP only without getting a chance to hold the post properly.
Today many police organisations both at the centre and states are headless or being managed by in-charge IPS officers. As per norm IPS officers are to be promoted to the post of DIG on completion of 14 years of the service, IGP after 18 years, ADG after 25 and DG after 30 years.
Even more frustrating is that there are not one or two but more than a dozen odd competent IPS officers waiting for the orders to step into the DGP and Additional DGP posts lying vacant because of sluggish decision making. In some cases the post of Additional DGP administration has been downgraded and the IPS officer posted on it is busy signing files and nothing else.
According to M. Nageswara Rao former Director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the root cause of the problem is that the Government both at the Centre and the State do not wish to promote officers and therefore delay the empanelment. This is allegedly because the authorities in power both at the Centre and the State do not wish to experiment with new officers and like to fill up the important posts with their blue-eyed boys or officers they trust. “All this is ruining the morale of the Indian Police Service and breaking its backbone”, Rao said.
A classic example of the behind the scene game of musical chair to fill up the top level post is Surjeet Singh Deswal – a Haryana cadre Indian Police Service officer of 1984 batch, who retired as Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) but commanded virtually every important Central Armed police force. He was appointed DG ITBP in Oct 2018 and was given additional charge of CRPF, BSF and NSG – all within a span of few months in 2020. He also served as the DG Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
The result is for everyone to see. CRPF DG Anish Dayal Singh a 1988- batch Manipur cadre IPS officer was handed “additional” charge of the National Security Guard (NSG) following the appointment of Nalin Prabhat as Jammu and Kashmir Police DGP. Significantly Anish Dayal Singh was also holding the additional responsibility of DG Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) following the repatriation of Rashmi Shukla a 1998 batch IPS officer as the first female DG of Maharashtra Police.
Anish Dayal Singh who served as the Director General (Additional Charge) of ITBP following the retirement of SL Thaosen is currently serving as the Director General of CRPF from 1 January 2024. Till recently Singh was heading three forces including NSG and CISF after Nina Singh retired from service. It is only recently that B. Srinivasan has been appointed as DG NSG.
When he was DG ITBP he was given the additional charge of CRPF and later when he became head of CRPF, he was given additional charge of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) which guards the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan border.
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Recently Rajwinder Singh Bhath, IPS (BH:90) has been appointed DG, CISF while Daljit Singh Chaudhary, IPS presently DG, SSB is being appointed DG, BSF. Daljit Singh Chaudhary a 1990 batch IPS officer who served as Special Director General of CRPF under Anish Dayal Singh was appointed Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) until his superannuation in November 2025. Daljit Singh Chaudhary also holds the additional charge of DG BSF following the repatriation of Nitin Agarwal, (KL:89) the previous DG, BSF and Y B Khurania, (OR: 90) Special DG, BSF to their parent cadre.
In February this year, he was given additional charge of DG NSG following the superannuation of M A Ganapathy “for a period of three months or till the appointment and joining of a regular incumbent or until further orders, whichever is earlier.”
However a few months later Anish Dayal Singh was given additional charge of NSG “till the joining of the regular incumbent or until further orders whichever is earlier” following the departure of Nalin Prabhat as Jammu and Kashmir Police DGP. In an order, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said Singh will hold the additional charge of director general (DG) NSG “till the joining of the regular incumbent or until further orders whichever is earlier”.
According to sources it is quite unusual the manner in which Nalin Prabhat a 1992-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer was deputed to the AGMUT cadre from the Andhra Pradesh cadre for a period of three years. Prabhat served as the Director General of the National Security Guard (NSG) from 1 May 2024 till 15 August 2024 and is expected to take over as the DG of the Jammu and Kashmir Police following the retirement of R. R. Swain a 1991 batch officer on September 30, 2024.
Amit Garg a 1993 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre officer has been handling the post of Director Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad in an additional capacity since the superannuation of A. Seem Rajan a 1987-batch Bihar cadre IPS officer on February 28th, 2023. Ironically, Garg has been holding the additional charge as Director, SVPNPA for three months which kept getting extended five times.
The situation will be further complicated when S N Pradhan DG Narcotics Control Bureau retires by the end of this month.
It’s a similar situations in states, too. In Uttar Pradesh Prashant Kumar a 1990 batch IPS officer has been appointed as acting DGP. This is the fourth consecutive time that instead of a full-time DGP an acting police chief has been appointed in UP since the removal of Mukul Goel in 2022.
After being removed from the DGP post Goel, the last regular DGP of UP was posted as DG Civil Defence till his superannuation in February 2024. RK Vishwakarma and DS Chauhan two officiating DGPs who succeeded him lasted one month and 11 months respectively. Then came Vijay Kumar the third consecutive officiating DGP.
Conclusion
Many states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana have “in-charge” DGPs, or DGPs with “full additional charge”. There was a stage when Bihar did not have a full time DGP after Gupteshwar Pandey a 1987-batch IPS officer opted for VRS five months before his retirement. In Punjab former DGP V.K. Bhawra is reported to have moved the high court against the appointment of Gaurav Yadav as acting DGP. All this is seriously affecting the morale of senior IPS officers.
