The state government will hitherto appoint the Director General and Inspector General of Police and no longer consult the Union Public Service Commission as directed by the Supreme Court in the Prakash Singh vs Union of India and others case on police reforms over the appointment of police chief, who will henceforth be called the Head of Police Force (HoPF).
The gazette notification dated August 9 amended the Karnataka Police Act, 1963, vesting the power of appointing the police chief with the group of ministers headed by the Chief Minister and would comprise the Home Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister(s) and Leader of the Opposition.. The HoPF will be appointed from among the top three senior-most IPS officers on the basis of seniority, merit and service records.
The amended KP Act will now hopefully pave the way for the incumbent DG&IGP and the senior-most IPS officer of 1977 batch – Mr. Lalrokhuma Pachau – to be regularised as HoPF. He was on May 31 appointed as the DGP, Criminal Investigation Department, and given the police chief’s post on an ad hoc basis. The amended Act also comes as a big relief to the senior-most Additional Director General of Police (Law & Order), Bipin Gopal Krishna, who was cleared for promotion to the post of DGP by the Departmental Promotion Committee, but continues to remain the ADGP, because of the prevailing confusion and lack of vacancy in the post of DGP.
“It was a much-needed amendment, because police is a state subject and the Centre cannot intervene in the matters of the state. Our attempt to send the names of senior-most IPS officers to the UPSC for empanelment to the top post under the direction of Supreme Court has only resulted in the senior IPS officers staking their claim to the police chief’ post in the courts of law,” said a senior officer from the home department.
Between January 2011 and June 2012, the state has had as many as five police chiefs, of whom only two – Mr. Neelam Achuta Rao and Mr. Shankar Bidari – were appointed as regular police chiefs for brief periods of six to four months. Mr. Bidari had to step down after the High Court quashed his appointment, which was challenged by his senior Mr. A.R. Infant.