Thiruvananthapuram: The Central Government has rejected the Kerala Government’s demand to sanction more posts of Director General of Police (DGP). Currently, the State has four posts of the DGP rank and wanted the central nod for two more.
The state’s demand was to raise the post of the Prison Head to the DGP rank. The Centre rejected the demand, citing that Punjab, which has 172 IPS officers like Kerala, too has only four DGPs. With this, the State Government has backtracked from the move to create six DGP posts, including ex-cadre posts.
Excise Commissioner S Anandakrishnan will be elevated as DGP when Jail DGP Sudhesh Kumar retires on October 31. The proposal is to elevate him without transferring him.
Currently, in Kerala, the Police Head and Vigilance Head hold DGP ranks. The Jail and Fire Force wings too have DGPs - but they don't belong to the Indian Police Service cadre.
The state came out with the demand to increase the number of DGP posts in the wake of the Supreme Court order, which said once a person is appointed the State Police Head, he shouldn’t be removed from that post for the next two years.
Since Anil Kant, who was set to retire in January 2022, was appointed as the State Police Chief, he can continue in the post until June 2023. This has resulted in the delay in promoting Senior Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Anandakrishnan, who became eligible to be posted in the DGP rank 10 months back. He will retire in May next.
After Anandakrishnan, it will be K Padmakumar, currently handling the responsibility of police headquarters, who is eligible for appointment to the DGP post.
Another issue highlighted by the State is that the IPS officials who enjoy over 30 years of service are not getting a chance to retire from the DGP post. The State also pointed out there are eight posts in the IAS cadre at the level of Chief Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary, which are equal to the DGP post. However, the Centre set aside all these arguments, while comparing with the state of Punjab.
