Former State Police Chief (SPC) Raman Srivastava’s appointment as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s “police adviser” appeared to have sown uncertainty among law enforcers.
Mr. Srivastava has accepted no remuneration for the job. His post is honorary, but nevertheless powerful. As adviser in the rank of Chief Secretary (CS), he is expected to have a direct line to the Chief Minister, bypassing the police hierarchy and even the Intelligence.
The “opaqueness” surrounding his “super role” is reported to have triggered resentment in the pecking order of the police force.
The “rancour” reportedly flared up at the venue of a police meeting in North Kerala recently. A top ranking officer was “openly sceptical” of Mr. Srivastava’s new role. The “tussle” occurred at the largely secret closed-door meeting.
Many police officers are critical of Mr. Srivastava’s appointment, though mutedly and in private for now. Some pointed out a conflict of interest between Mr. Srivastava’s contract as a consultant with a private firm and his role as CS-level adviser to Mr. Vijayan. (It was unclear whether Mr. Srivastava has severed his ties with company after his appointment.)
They feared the new post would create conflicting power centres in the force, exacerbate its internal fault lines and undermine the fealty of officers to their immediate supervisors. It would subtly and incrementally diminish the legal chain of command and hobble police functioning.
Mr. Srivastava told The Hindu that his role was advisory in nature. He would offer counsel, when required or sought, on “Home Affairs”. It included the “the police, fire and rescue service and prisons”. There was no question of him involving in day-to-day affairs of the police at a tactical level. He did not presume to have operational control over the force. Channelling Central funds for force modernisation would be a key task. Mr. Srivastava hoped to bring to bear his long years of experience as a law enforcer and as one of the longest serving SPCs in the State to his new job.M / g anand
