Former top cop Bassi appointed UPSC member

NEW DELHI: Three months after the Congress scuttled a plan to accommodate him in the Central Information Commission, the NDA government on Tuesday appointed former

NEW DELHI: Three months after the Congress scuttled a plan to accommodate him in the Central Information Commission, the NDA government on Tuesday appointed former Delhi Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi as a Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) member.

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Bassi will have nearly five years in the new job, till he turns 65.

He is the second Delhi Police chief to get a post-retirement post at the UPSC over the last decade. Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul was the last police chief from the Capital to make it to the commission in 2007. He served till 2013 and was later given gubernatorial assignment by the UPA government.

Bassi was appointed to the police chief ’s post by the then home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in 2013. After the Congress rout in the 2014 general elections, the media-savvy police officer endeared himself to the NDA government as well after he took on the AAP-government. AAP leaders had accused Bassi of operating as an agent for the BJP, a charge that Bassi denied emphasising his loyalty to the Khaki.

But a plan to appoint him as information commissioner after his retirement went awry after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi decided to oppose the police crackdown on students at th e Jawaharlal Nehru University in February.

On Gandhi’s target was the Modi government, and the police led by Bassi that allegedly acted on cue from the BJP. Soon enough, the Congress too joined the Aam Aadmi Party leaders to demand the police commissioner’s scalp.

So when the high-powered panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met to select information commissioner weeks before his retirement, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge made it clear that he could not accept Bassi’s candidature.

Bassi had clearly tripped in the race for a post-retirement job but hadn’t lost the race.

As a UPSC member, Bassi will be part of the commission that not only recruits senior civil servants but also plays a key role in their promotions and the punishment to be meted out to them if indicted by an inquiry panel.

Bassi had clearly tripped in the race for a post-retirement job but hadn’t lost the race.

As a UPSC member, Bassi will be part of the commission that not only recruits senior civil servants but also plays a key role in their promotions and the punishment to be meted out to them if indicted by an inquiry panel.

Unlike the selection process for an information watchdog, the Centre has a free hand to select a UPSC chairman and members.