UPSC begins process to appoint full-time Telangana DGP after SC order
HYDERABAD: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has begun the process to appoint a full-time Director General of Police (Head of Police Force) for Telangana. The move comes weeks after the Supreme Court directed the commission to complete the selection.
The UPSC wrote to the state government and asked it to submit a list of eligible DGP-rank officers for empanelment.
Supreme Court order triggers move
Sources said the UPSC asked the state to treat February 5 as the date of vacancy. The Supreme Court had issued its order on that day.
“UPSC shall determine eligibility of officers who currently fall in the zone of consideration and accordingly determine their inter se merit for empanelment,” the court said in its February 5 order.
The development has sparked discussions within the police department over eligibility criteria.
Six DGP-rank officers in contention
Telangana has six serving DGP-rank officers: C V Anand, B Shivadhar Reddy, Prabhakar Apte, Sowmya Mishra, Shikha Goel and Abhilasha Bisht.
B Shivadhar Reddy currently holds charge as in-charge DGP. He will retire at the end of April. It remains unclear whether the state will include his name in the list of eligible officers.
The state government must forward the panel of eligible officers at the earliest. The UPSC will then shortlist three officers for consideration.
The commission also sent similar letters to nine other states. These states had not complied with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Prakash Singh vs Union of India case. Instead, they had appointed in-charge DGPs instead of regular DGPs under the prescribed guidelines.
