All eyes on govt as race for DGP hots up

Hyderabad: The race for the post of new DGP seems to be turning curiouser particularly after the sudden appearance of former commissioner of police C V Anand at the L B Stadium a day before the swearing in ceremony of A Revanth Reddy as the new Chief Minister of the State.

It may be recalled that the Election Commission of India (ECI) initiated a big reshuffle transferring a total of 20 officials, including four returning officers and Hyderabad Commissioner of Police (CP) CV Anand. The officers, who have been transferred, were not given any new postings.

The EC while transferring them stated that the reason for transfer was laxity in their duties towards the preparation for the upcoming Assembly elections. Election Commission of India (ECI) officials concluded that the performance of some officers was “unsatisfactory” and they were found “complacent, if not complicit” in various matters,

In the backdrop of this, the sudden presence of C V Anand at the stadium raised many a eyebrow. It is learnt that it was the Chief Secretary who had asked him to be present at the stadium to help the state government in making necessary arrangements for the swearing in ceremony as several VVIPs were to participate in the event.

The grapevine in the bureaucratic circles are wondering whether the DGP was consulted before asking C V Anand to assist the government or not. They felt that when Sandeep Shandilya was the commissioner of police it should have been his responsibility to ensure proper law and order situation and traffic management in coordination with traffic police.

Anand is 1991 batch officer and is the only one from Telangana amongst those who are in the race for the top cop’s post. However, he has about another four years to retire. On the other hand, the present DGP Ravi Gupta has extensive experience in Information Technology and had brought revolutionary changes in IT applications and had won several awards. He is due to retire in about one years’ time. Others in the race are Rajiv Rattan who is the Managing Director Telangana police housing corporation and Dr Jitendar is the state Home Secretary.

Normally as per UPSC rules the state government sends the names of five senior IPS officers and after shortlisting three out of the five names, the committee sends back the proposal to the state government and best among the three is picked up by the state government as DGP

The buzz in bureaucratic circles is that in all probability the state government may finally opt for Ravi Gupta as the DGP keeping his seniority and work in view.