Former Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal breathed his last on Wednesday night at the age of 70 after a prolonged illness. He was the Delhi Police chief from July 2007 to November 2010 — till a month after India hosted the Commonwealth Games in the Capital.
His former colleagues mourned his death in their own ways on Thursday. While some shared their thoughts as WhatsApp status, others took to Twitter and Facebook.
Standing orders
“He will always be remembered as the rare officer who had vision, integrity and knowledge,” said an IPS officer who worked closely with Dadwal when he was the police chief, adding that there can probably be no officer in the force who has all three qualities.
Dadwal was very clear in his direction… precise with no ambiguity, the IPS officer said with a smile recalling his senior.
“His knowledge of policing was phenomenal — be it field or administrative. As a result, he revised maximum standing orders. By the time he left the force, there was probably no standing order that was pending,” he said.
His biggest achievement was the smooth arrangement for the Commonwealth Games, remembered all the officers, The Hindu spoke to. “The man had visited other such events during his earlier postings. He was the Commissioner at the time we hosted CWG and he made sure that everything was done in the right order. After CWG, enquiries were opened against so many departments but not Delhi Police. ‘You are finding it hard now but you’ll realise later how important it is’, he would say while putting down everything in detail on paper,” the officer said.
Political demands
Holding Dadwal in high regard, an IPS officer who had worked with him believed that Dadwal was the epitome of integrity and the closest to late IPS officer Kanwar Pal Singh Gill that the Delhi police has had in terms of “leadership, resolve and non-servility towards political masters”.
“On various occasions, he had brushed aside political demands with an air of nonchalance — an attribute which had made him command respect from the force as against the demands for the same,” the officer said.
Promoted merit
Dadwal promoted merit, the officer recalled, and it was in his tenure that most of the then inspectors “who had never thought of being posted as SHOs in absence of ‘influence’ got their first chance to serve”. The officer remembered Dadwal as someone who almost never attended any official ceremonies post retirement as he disliked them for being pompous.
“He was the least likely to be heard as having called up any of his former colleagues or subordinates seeking personal favours of any kind,” the officer said.
IPS Chinmoy Biswal, 2008-batch officer, who is now Deputy Commissioner of Police joined as a young Assistant Commissioner of Police in 2010 during Dadwal’s tenure. He recalled the one hour he spent with the late officer in 2017.
“He has always been very proper. Back then, I had gone to invite him for the Raising Day parade at his Gurugram residence. He had to come to Delhi on a personal visit and he insisted I come back to the city with him. In that one hour, he asked me all about how the district was running in terms of policing. He was still very invested,” he said.
Remembering his days training as ACP, Mr. Biswal said that Dadwal kept a close watch on the progress of five IPS officers who were on probation at the time and asked them to remain in police stations 24X7 “to really understand what policing means”.
He was a giant figure and maintained his aura till his very last days, his former colleague said.
