THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The post of Commissioners in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram districts will be declassed to the level of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) if the state government’s plan to bring in commissionerate system fails to take off.
The commissioners of both the cities were earlier officers of the rank of DIG. But the government recently elevated the posts to the rank of Inspector General (IG) to accommodate senior officers.
This was done to bring in experienced officers who could judiciously exercise the magisterial powers that were to be bestowed on the officers once the commissionerate system comes into effect.
The fate of the system is now hanging in limbo after the CPI, one of the coalition partner in the LDF government, echoed their dissent over its implementation.
Highly placed sources told Express that if the decision to implement the commissionerate system is reversed, then the designation of the Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram city commissioners will also be declassed.
“The most likely scenario is that the commissioners of the two cities will again be officers of the DIG rank if the system is not implemented,” the sources said.
Currently, IGs Dinendra Kashyap and Vijay Sakhare are Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi police commissioners, respectively. The two were appointed to the post in the wake of the government’s decision to bring in the new system, which the detractors say will give unprecedented power to the men in uniform.
Once the system comes into existence, the cops no longer require the stamp of approval of the district collector to initiate steps such as declaring prohibitory and detention orders.
Apart from the CPI, human rights organisations too had come out against the move decrying that the system would add teeth to the already powerful Police Department.
The IAS lobby, which had been up in arms against the system, has also intensified its whispering campaign.