Mumbai police to get more DGPs

D. Shivanandhan may get to continue as the city police commissioner as the post is likely to get upgraded to the rank of director general.

D. Shivanandhan may get to continue as the city police commissioner as the post is likely to get upgraded to the rank of director general.

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Currently, the office is held by an officer of the rank of additional director general.

This may happen after the Centre’s nod to increase the number of director general ranked police officers in the state. The Ministry of Home Affairs has increased the number of DG ranked officers in the state to six instead of the existing four.
The number of additional DG ranked officers too has been increased to 28 from 20.

On January 13, Hindustan Times reported about the state government’s efforts to get permission from the Centre to increase the number of director general (DG) ranked officers in the state from four to six.

The state used to have two cadre DGs earlier that were DGP and DG (Anti Corruption). Now, the police housing managing director too has been included in the cadre post.

This will mean that the state will have the liberty to appoint three former cadre DGs. The decision on appointing these DGs is pending, a source said.

A notification by Ministry of Home Affairs says the posts of commissioners of police of Nagpur and Pune have been upgraded and they will be held by officers of the rank of additional DGs.

The training and traffic (Mumbai), which was held by Special IG and IG ranked officers, will now go to additional DG rank officers.

The Centre had okayed that Maharashtra could have four DGs at a time but the state had asked for two more officers.
Former DGP P.S. Pasricha said this would allow flexibility in appointing DGs to crucial posts. “The promotions will be sped up but I cannot comment on whether efficiency will get better with this,” he said.

Former Additional Director General V.N. Deshmukh said unless the police reforms are implemented sincerely, changes like these would mean nothing. “The command is broken at every step and there is a lot of political interference. Unless that is stopped, having even 100 DGs will not help in improving efficiency,” Deshmukh said.