Director General of Police Jacob Thomas on Monday ended his ‘indefinite leave’ and joined service as Director, Institute of Management in Government (IMG).
His comeback after a hiatus of nearly three months has added a new dimension to the political leadership’s search for a ranking official to succeed T.P. Senkumar as State Police Chief (SPC). Mr. Senkumar is due to retire on June 30.
Mr. Thomas is second in seniority to the incumbent SPC. The precedence in rank gives Mr. Thomas a definite advantage, if the government decided to go by order of seniority in service in selecting the next police chief. However, Mr. Thomas has been the subject of allegations of corruption when he served as the Director of Ports, accusations the officer has vehemently disputed.
The political executive was also critical of Mr. Thomas’s ‘decision’ to allow ‘free registration of Vigilance cases solely on the merit of accusations and without proper vetting by superior officers’.
The High Court had berated the agency during Mr. Thomas tenure as chief for attempting to establish a ‘Vigilance raj’ in the State. Moreover, there is also the precedence of successive governments overlooking seniority in their choice of police chiefs.
The government on Monday expressly elevated the post of IMG Director “equivalent in status and responsibilities to the cadre post of Director General of Police under Rule 11 of the Indian Police Service (Pay) rules”.
Future plans
Mr. Thomas gave no indication of his future plans or the State government’s inkling when he briefly interacted with reporters who mobbed him at the IMG office here. The DGP resorted to his trademark cryptic comments when journalists confronted him with the awkward question whether he would be the natural successor to Mr. Senkumar. “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Then how can I predict what is in stock day after tomorrow,” he quipped. Mr. Thomas said the ‘climate appeared good’ and would reveal in time the reasons why he quit the Vigilance. He did not view his posting in IMG as a demotion. The offices of the VACB and the IMG were on ‘either side of the same road,’ he said. Mr. Thomas is due to retire only in 2020.
