VIJAYAWADA: The State government on Friday appointed 1984-batch IPS officer and acting Director General of Police (DGP) N Sambasiva Rao as regular State police chief days after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) rejected the list of names it had forwarded for the coveted post for the second time. Rao, who had been holding the fort as DGP (coordination) since July 23, 2016, is due to retire on December 31.
The GO, issued by Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar, did not specify if Rao will continue in the post for a full two-year term. When contacted, Kumar told TNIE that the DGP will retire on superannuation and denied sidestepping the UPSC. Sources, however, said the State government could request the Union Home Ministry to extend his tenure by three months and cited the recent case of Uttar Pradesh DGP Sulkan Singh, whose tenure was extended by three months just a day before his retirement on the request of the Yogi government.
The State government had sent a list of seven IPS officers, including Sambasiva Rao, to the UPSC in October but the latter rejected it on November 2 and advised it to send a fresh panel. In a stern letter to the Chief Secretary, it said, “It is learnt that after the retirement of J V Ramudu in July 2016, the State government has not appointed a full-time DGP which is in contravention of the Supreme Court orders in the Prakash Singh case.
Having not found an officer fit for full appointment since July 2016, recommending his name in the panel on the verge of retirement is against the spirit of the SC judgement.” Rao and two others are due to retire within a year and the UPSC wanted their names out since the apex court verdict in the Prakash Singh case was crystal clear on giving a minimum tenure of two years to the DGP. However, the State government sent back the list without any changes forcing the UPSC to reject it again on November 20.
It is against this backdrop that the government has appointed Sambasiva Rao as regular DGP. In the Prakash Singh case in 2006, the apex court had ruled that the DGP of a State “shall be selected by the State government from amongst the three senior-most officers of the Department who have been empanelled for promotion to that rank by the UPSC on the basis of their length of service, very good record and range of experience for heading the police force.