After Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, the West Bengal government is now also introducing a selection committee to appoint the State’s Director General of Police (DGP) without relying on the Centre’s nod.
On Tuesday, the State cabinet decided to constitute the committee.
A year after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab brought in legislation to independently appoint the State Director General of Police (DGP) without the Centre’s nod, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh approved similar guidelines for the selection of the State police chief bypassing the Centre last November.
For the last few months, the Bengal government has had an acting DGP — Rajeev Kumar. A senior cabinet colleague of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, “Next year before the Assembly election, Kumar will retire. Banerjee doesn’t have a close and trustworthy police officer like Rajeev Kumar who can help her out in the next Assembly elections. But if this rule is implemented, then Kumar will remain DG for the next two years and will retire from the role in 2027.”
A senior official of the state Home department said, “To make the selection committee, our state will almost entirely follow the UP government’s way. The selection committee for appointing the new DGP will be headed by a retired High Court judge and comprise the State Chief Secretary, a UPSC nominee, the West Bengal Public Service Commission Chairman or its nominee, the Home Department Additional Chief Secretary or Principal Secretary, and a retired State DGP as its members.
“In this new rule there is no provision to get a nod from the Central government on this issue,” he said.
He said, “To be eligible for selection, candidates must have six months of service remaining on the date of creation of the vacancy. Officers who are currently serving in the Director General (DG) role at Level 16 of the pay matrix will be considered for selection. The minimum tenure of the DGP will be two years.”
In the existing system, the state government has to send a list of the three senior-most officers to the Central government, from which the Union Public Service Commission would select the name of the new DGP.