DGP's retirement halted, tenure extended by six months with home affairs ministry approval
Telegraph | 28 April 2026
The ministry of home affairs approved an extension for the Bengal director general of police (DGP) for six months from April 30 on Monday.
Siddh Nath Gupta, a 1992-batch IPS officer of the Bengal cadre, was scheduled to retire by the end of this month, four days before the election results.
Sources said the appointments committee of the Union cabinet, which handles the appointments of IPS officers, approved a proposal from the ministry of home affairs and granted the extension.
Officials in the home ministry said the extension was granted for the “smooth functioning” of the administrative units in the police directorate till at least the electoral process in Bengal was over.
The second and final phase of voting will be held on Wednesday. The vote counting is scheduled on May 4, 2026.
“If a new DGP is appointed in the middle of an electoral process, it would have been very difficult for the officer to coordinate with all the departments and the Election Commission simultaneously,” said a senior official of the state home department.
The DGP of a state is the highest posting a police officer can get. The officer’s primary duty is to monitor and supervise the state’s districts, including the commissionerates, except for Kolkata Police.
The Election Commission had appointed Gupta as the DGP after removing his predecessor, Peeyush Pandey.