PC’s small shake-up for big effect

NEW DELHI: The appointment of KC Verma, secretary (security) in the cabinet secretariat, as internal security advisor to home minister P Chidambaram, is being described as a move to remove ambiguity in the chain of command in the internal and external security structures.

Verma, a 1971 IPS cadre officer, has spent considerable time serving the intelligence bureau and was also the director general of Narcotic Control Bureau. The fact that he was overlooked for post of director, Intelligence Bureau, after the incumbent PC Halder scored over him, Verma in his dual role in the cabinet secretariat and North Block could be more powerful.

Verma’s advisory role in the home ministry runs contrary to the laid system, in which the DIB used to be the final authority on the internal security matters and the RAW secretary had the last word on the external security front. Significantly, home minister P Chidambaram has appointed Safi Ahsan Rizvi, a 1989 Jharkhand cadre IPS officer as an officer on special duty in his office. The appointment of two senior police officials in the existing set-up of the home ministry is being seen as an attempt by him to set up a command and control system of his own without going in for full-scale reshuffle in the
North Block and Central Police Forces-Intelligence network.