RK Vishwakarma takes charge from outgoing officiating DGP DS Chauhan at the UP police headquarters, in Lucknow on Friday. (SOURCED)
The state government on Friday gave additional charge of the Uttar Pradesh director general of police (DGP) to RK Vishwakarma as DS Chauhan, the officiating state police chief, retired from service. Vishwakarma and Chauhan belong to the 1988 batch of the Indian Police Service (IPS)…………………………….
A government order stated that Vishwakarma, director general of the UP Police Recruitment and Promotion Board, will hold additional charge of DGP till the appointment of a permanent state police chief.
After taking charge from Chauhan at the UP police headquarters in Lucknow on Friday, Vishwakarma said eradication of mafia, zero tolerance towards crime, techno-centric policing and serving citizens with compassion would be his topmost priorities.
Chauhan was the officiating DGP in addition to holding the charge of director, Vigilance, and DG, Intelligence, since May 12, 2022. Vishwakarma, scheduled to retire in May-end, is the senior most IPS officer of the U.P. cadre after 1987-batch officer Mukul Goel.
The state government had removed Goel as DGP in May last year, accusing him of inaction and not showing interest in his work…….
The state government order stated that RK Vishwakarma will have the additional charge of DGP till the posting of a full-time DGP,” said a senior government official aware of the development.
He said the state government will send names to the Union government for consideration for the DGP post during the two months of service left for Vishwakarma.
The official said a list of at least 41 IPS officers, who have completed 30 years of service, will be sent to the Union government.
“Different stakeholders in the Union government, including the Union home ministry, the Union Public Service Commission and the department of personnel and training (DoPT) will select at least three IPS officers on the basis of their past record and seniority, and send the panel of three officers to the state government to appoint the DGP from among them. There are many other things that have to be considered while selecting the names. The officer must have at least six months of service left and a good service record,” he said…
Meanwhile, additional director general (ADG), Law and Order, Prashant Kumar has been made special director general (SDG), Law and Order, after his elevation. He will hold additional charge of SDG Economic Offences Wing.
DG, Crime Bureau and Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) Vijay Kumar, who is also a batchmate of Chauhan, has been given additional charge of director, Vigilance. Another batchmate, DG Prison Anand Kumar, has been made DG Cooperative Cell in place of 1990-batch officer SN Sabat, who has replaced him as DG Prison. Another 1990 batch officer, ADG Crime MK Bashal, has been made the new SDG of the UP Power Corporation.
Earlier, on Thursday night, six 1990-batch IPS officers, including MK Bashal, Tanuja Srivastava, SK Mathur, Anju Gupta, Subash Chandra and Prashant Kumar, were elevated to special DG rank…..
Six other officers of the 1990 batch in the state have already been promoted to DG rank. They include Sandeep Salunke, Renuka Mishra, Bijaya Kumar Maurya, SN Sabat, Avinash Chandra and Sanjay M Tarade.
There are 12 posts of DG rank under the state government. The SDG rank officers will be elevated to DG rank in accordance with vacancies that arise.
According to the seniority list, MK Bashal will be the first in line to be elevated to DG rank after DS Chauhan’s retirement on Friday.
Thereafter, Tanuja Srivastava, SK Mathur and Anju Gupta could be elevated after the retirement of three other DG-rank officers in the next two months. Two other 1990-batch officers Prashant Kumar and Tilotama could be elevated to DG rank after the retirement of their batchmates Anju Gupta and Subash Chandra in November 2023 and April 2024, respectively………….
