The race for the Delhi Police’s top post has intensified with lieutenant- Governor Najeeb Jung clearing the panel of three senior most IPS officers for the post of Delhi Police Commissioner. The name of the next police chief will be decided only after the file is approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). BS Bassi, the current Police Commissioner, is retiring on February 29, 2016, and the ball has been set rolling for the appointment of the next police chief.
A panel of three senior IPS officers; Alok Kumar Verma, Deepak Mishra and Dharmendra Kumar has been forwarded to the MHA for the final approval.
The Commissioner of Police post has become important as there is an Aam Aadmi Party Government in the national Capital. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal did not mince words while speaking about the men in khaki. The NDA Government at the Centre would want an officer who can withstand Kejriwal’s antics and also manage the law and order to the satisfaction of the Delhiites.
Top sources told The Pioneer that the l-G has forwarded the names of a 1979-batch IPS officer Alok Kumar Verma, 1984-batch IPS officers Dharmendra Kumar and Deepak Mishra. The name of Karnal Singh of the 1984 batch was not considered since he is already serving the Director of Enforcement Directorate.
Verma is currently posted as Director General of Tihar Jail. He had served as Special CP (Administration) the number two post in the Delhi Police, Director General of Mizoram, Puducherry, Special CP Intelligence, Vigilance and Joint CP Crime. He is the “natural successor” to get the baton from Bassi after 1978-batch officer Vimla Mehra’s name was not considered in the panel since she will demit the office on the very day Bassi will hang his boots. The panel of three senior most IPS officers has cleared the succession line in the Delhi Police after Bassi.
Kumar and Mishra, both batchmate and good friends and Special Commissioners of Police, are eyeing the top slot. Kumar is currently holding the charge of Special Commissioner of Police (DG-scale) special unit coordinator while Mishra is special CP law and order coordinator. Interestingly, Bassi is learnt to be lobbying for Kumar.
Sources said Kumar was transferred out of the Delhi Police to Mizoram as Director General, but returned within 13 months after Bassi made at least eight representations to the MHA to transfer him back. The chemistry between Kumar and Bassi dates back to their days at North District when Bassi was the Deputy Commissioner of Police and Kumar his deputy.
According to sources, Kumar may not be the obvious choice of the NDA Government because when he was Special Commissioner of Police, law and Order, in 2011, he had ordered a midnight crackdown on hundreds of followers of Baba Ramdev, during which a former woman corporator from Gurgaon had died.
Mishra the Special CP(DG rank) is currently posted as the Special CP (law and order) and is considered a tough officer. He had served in various capacities in the Delhi Police and enjoys the support from the bosses who matter.
The rumours are also doing the rounds that BS Bassi, who is a 1977-batch officer, is lobbying hard for a post retirement job after February 2016 and it is learnt that he is eying for CIC job after retirement.
The issue of appointment of police commissioners of Delhi, has not been without controversies. Senior IPS officer Kiran Bedi was superseded to appoint her junior YS Dadwal as the Police Commissioner in July 2007. Before her RS Gupta was made the police chief and Ajay Aggarwal who was senior to him was ignored by the then NDA Government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Bedi had gone on record saying that at a time, when the then President of India as well as the erstwhile chairperson of the ruling alliance UPA were women (Pratibha Patil and Sonia Gandhi respectively), it would have done a lot of good for country’s image as well as for the uplift of women if she had been appointed. She resigned soon after in protest, although her official line was that she wanted to devote more time to social work. Dadwal had also got the distinction of becoming the longest serving commissioner of the police force who served for a period of 41 months (2007-2010).c