Maharashtra will soon have new DGPs

The top echelon of police officers in the state is all set for a major shake-up in the coming days. The home department is gearing up to fill vacant posts at the highest level.

The post of the director general of police (DGP) has been vacant ever since SS Virk retired in October 2009. Similarly, the post of the DGP (special operations) too fell vacant after the retirement of Jayant Umranikar on December 31, 2009.

For the past two months, the Maharashtra government has been delaying the selection process for the top cop posts, but with a major offensive against Maoists on the cards, a decision has to be taken soon.

According to a Bombay high court order, the three senior-most IPS officers, AN Roy, Hasan Gafoor and PP Srivastva, will have to be considered for the posts.

Once the new DGPs are selected, the next senior-most officers namely Srivastva and D Sivanandhan would have to be promoted to the rank of DGP, necessitating changes at other levels such as the post of Mumbai police commissioner (currently held by Sivanandhan).

The next rung senior officers, Ajit Parasnis, S Subramaniam, Sanjeev Dayal, AK Patnaik and Dr Satya Pal Singh, are considered to be serious contenders for the post of Mumbai commissioner of police.