The police establishment is set for a major shake- up ahead of the selection of the new State police chief, which is due in two days. The city is also likely to get a new Police Commissioner as the incumbent M.N. Reddi is due for promotion shortly.
The meeting of the committee to select the new chief is scheduled for Friday, as the incumbent Director-General and Inspector-General of Police (DG&IGP) Lalrukhoma Pachau will retire on Saturday.
While three senior officials, Sushanth Mahapatra, Om Prakash and R.K. Dutta, are in the race for the top post, the government is yet to take a call on whether or not to go by convention of seniority.
1979-batch IPS officer Mr. Mahapatra is the senior-most and he has threatened to go to court if his seniority is given the go-by. However, it is said to be a close race between 1981-batchmates Mr. Dutta and Mr. Prakash.
While sources say that the political leadership favours Mr. Dutta, who is presently on central deputation to the CBI, he is the junior-most of the three and also has an inquiry, of forging his attendance register to get a law degree in 2011, pending against him. This may pave the way for Mr. Prakash to have a shot at the top position, sources say.
Meanwhile, the State government has also submitted a proposal seeking sanction of two more Director-General of Police (DGP) rank posts.
The proposal is presently pending before the Ministry of Home Affairs and is expected to be granted in a month’s time.
If the posts are created, two senior-most ADGP rank officials Kishore Chandra H.C., presently ADGP (Law & Order), and M.N. Reddi, city Police Commissioner, will be promoted as DGP, which will leave the two prime postings the officials hold presently vacant.
Lobbying for the two prime postings of city Police Commissioner and ADGP (Law & Order has already begun. This will lead to a major rehaul of the State Police Department, say Home Ministry sources.
