CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has objected to the three names shortlisted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for the post of state Head of Police Force (HoPF/DGP).
Chief Secretary N Muruganandam has written a letter to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) explaining the reasons for the state’s objection, Minister for Natural Resources S Regupathy said.
In a statement on Wednesday, Regupathy rejected the allegations of Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami over the delay in appointing a full-time chief to the force and said, “A government that respects state’s rights cannot remain silent like Mr Palaniswami.”
The minister claimed that the UPSC did not accept the views of the govt, which is responsible for maintaining law and order in the state. The TN government had objected to the names proposed at the meeting conducted by the UPSC for selecting a panel of three names.
The UPSC, however, did not accept the state’s views and had sent its shortlist. The state is yet to receive a response for the letter sent by the chief secretary, Regupathy said.
The state had sent the names of Seema Agrawal, Rajeev Kumar and Sandeep Rai Rathore, the senior-most in contention, and G Venkatraman, Vannia Perumal, Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, Vinit Wankhede and Sanjay Mathur, who are eligible as per the union government rules.
List was not sent in time because of SC case: Regupathy
Venkatraman is currently the HoPF (in-charge). The minister’s statement is in response to Palaniswami’s allegation that the TN government was dithering on appointing a new HoPF and had delayed sending the list of eligible candidates to the UPSC on time and that this was causing law and order problems.
“The list was not sent in due time due to a case in the Supreme Court. As soon as the case got over, it was sent out without delay. The LoP has failed to understand this,” Regupathy said.
Charging Palaniswami with giving up the rights of the state during his tenure, the minister said that the DMK government is making all efforts to uphold the rights of the state in the appointment of HoPF as well.
“Palaniswami should recall the number of months and years that the government of the leader he worships, J Jayalalithaa, ran without appointing a full-time DGP. Were there law and order problems then,” Regupathy asked in the statement.