Thiruvananthapuram: A major shakeup is in the offing in the Kerala Police. The revamp has been necessitated by the imminent retirement of three police honchos in the rank of Director General of Police (DGP) and a few more in the top ranks in the next month.
Three officers are slated to retire from service on Wednesday (May 31) and two others, including the incumbent State Police Chief, within the next two months.
Arun Kumar Sinha, currently on central deputation as the SPG Director, Excise Commissioner S Anandakrishnan, and the Fire and Rescue Department Chief B Sandhya, are all set to retire on Wednesday.
The Government has already decided to elevate Additional Director General of Police (Police Headquarters) K Padmakumar and Crime Branch ADGP Sheikh Darvesh Sahib as DGPs to replace Anandakrishnan and Sandhya, respectively.
As Sinha is serving a central deputation, he does not belong to the Kerala cadre anymore and hence will not be replaced.
State Police Chief Anil Kanth is slated to retire from service on June 30, followed by Human Rights Commission DGP Tomin Thachankary the next day. With this, Coastal Security ADGP Sanjeev Kumar Patjoshi and Intelligence ADGP T K Vinod Kumar will be promoted as DGPs.
Selection of next police chief
The State Government, meanwhile, has sent a list of eight officers qualified to replace Anil Kanth as the next police chief. The officers included in the list are K Padmakumar, Sheikh Darvesh Sahib, Sanjeev Kumar Patjoshi, T K Vinod Kumar, Yogesh Gupta, and three other officers currently on central deputation – Ravada Chandrashekhar, CRPF ADGP Nithin Agarwal, and Harinath Mishra.
The UPSC is slated to shortlist three names from this list, by also taking into consideration the seniority factor, and hand over the same to the State Government by June end. The State Government can then select and appoint anyone from this final list as the next police chief. While Padmakumar and Sheikh Darvesh Sahib are the leading candidates on this list, it is for the Chief Minister to take the final call.
The elevation of these officers to the DGP rank will also necessitate new appointments at the ADGP level, to be posted at Police Headquarters and in the Crime Branch. New ADGPs will also have to be appointed in the Cyber and intelligence wings as well.
Send-off at police headquarters
Meanwhile, eight police Superintendents, including three conferred IPS officers, are also set to retire from service tomorrow and will be accorded a send-off at the police headquarters on Tuesday.
Top post eludes Sandhya
Meanwhile, Kerala’s wait for the first woman police chief is set to continued as B Sandhya, the second female officer to ascend to the rank of Director General of Police (DGP), is set to retire tomorrow. Earlier, R Sreelekha, the first female DGP who retired at the end of December 2020 after 33 years of service, too didn’t get the post.
The State Government, while selecting the officer to the top post in uniform the last time, overlooked Sandhya and appointed her junior Anil Kanth as the state police chief. It also extended his term by 17 more months from his due retirement date of January 31, 2022, scuttling the chance of Sandhya, who could have had the chance of becoming the state’s first woman police chief.
Though Anil Kanth was appointed as the State Police Chief, the Government ran the police administration by placing Padmakumar and M R Ajit Kumar — two trusted lieutenants of the Chief Minister’s political secretary, at the Police Headquarters and the Law and Order, respectively.
According to sources, Sandhya is likely to be appointed as a member of the State Administrative Tribunal. At the same time, Anil Kanth too has submitted an application for the same post.
When asked why she was not made the State Police chief, Sandhya responded that she was not in a position to answer the question and instead sought to raise it with those who make such decisions.
The Fire and Rescue Department accorded a guard of honour to the officer on Monday evening.
