Gujarat Government appointed Shivanand Jha as the new Director General of Police (DGP) on Wednesday following the retirement of outgoing DGP Pramod Kumar.
The 1983-batch Gujarat cadre IPS officer elevated to post of the top cop in the State from DG of Intelligence branch. Jha was also Commissioner of Police in the State’s two biggest cities – Ahmedabad and Surat. Jha is retiring in April 2020 and if everything would sail smoothly, he would serve as DGP for next couple of years.
For him as the Chief of Gujarat police force, 2019 would be the crucial year in view of forthcoming lok Sabha polls.
After taking the charge the top Gujarat cop said that he would like to ensure people of the State that police continue to work for the service of citizens.
On his priorities as DGP, Jha said that security of women and improvement on any lacuna in the state police department.
He however said that the law and order situation in Gujarat was good but he would like to make it even better.
Jha had played crucial role to bring normalcy in the State post 2002 communal riots in Gujarat. It is worth mentioning that almost after three years the State got a full-time DGP. Former IPS officer and advocate Rahul Sharma had even filed a petition in Gujarat High Court in September of 2017, asking why the Government had not appointed a regular DGP. The State Government had then stated that it would appoint a DGP soon.