The much-delayed appointment of a police commissioner for Mumbai and the pending postings of around 70 senior police officers may finally get cleared with the reconstituted Police Establishment Board holding its first meeting on Monday.
The sensitive post of a commissioner of police for Mumbai is vacant after Satyapal Singh's voluntary retirement late last month to join politics. Joint commissioner of police (administration) Hemant Nagrale has been given temporary charge. The main contenders for the post include ATS chief Rakesh Maria and ADGPs Vijay Kamble and Javed Ahmed, and leaders from the ruling Congress and NCP are reportedly lobbying for their favoured candidates.
The Board, which has been set up as part of the police reforms agenda, is headed by additional chief secretary (home) Amitabh Rajan and consists of DGP Sanjeev Dayal, DG (anti-corruption bureau) Praveen Dixit, Mumbai CP (now vacant) and additional DG (establishment) Satish Mathur. It will "advise and make recommendations" to the state government regarding the postings and transfers of police officers above the rank of deputy superintendent of police.
Rajan said they would send the recommendations of the board to the state government on Monday night itself. These will be routed to home minister RR Patil and chief minister Prithviraj Chavan later.
Rajan, however, refused to comment on whether the Board had recommended one name or a panel of names for the Mumbai CP's post. This was the first meeting of the reconstituted board formed under the Maharashtra Police (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014, which was issued this month.
The Board chief said that they had taken into consideration the Election Commission of India circular regarding officials who are directly or indirectly related to election duty and have completed their three year's tenure. The circular says such officials should not be posted in their home districts.
On Monday, Rajan, Dayal and Dixit met to decide the posting of officers above the rank of ADGP, including the CP, Mumbai. Later, Nagrale and Mathur joined the other members to discuss postings and transfers of officers below the rank of ADGP. The postings of officers of SP rank will be decided in the meeting of the Board on February 12.
