The Uttar Pradesh government is reported to be flirting with the idea of creating the post of Special Director General (Special DG) once again in the state with the purpose of accommodating senior IPS officers waiting for promotion to the rank of Director General (DG).
There are at least 11 IPS officers in the state who are eligible for promotion to the DG rank but it has not been possible due to the limited number of sanctioned posts. To make matters worse, seven more officers will be eligible for promotion to the DG rank on January 1, 2026 swelling the number of eligible officers to 18.
It has caused a precarious situation with questions being asked about cadre management. It is against this background that the government is reported to be considering the creation of Special DG posts in the state.
At present, the state has seven cadre posts and an equal number of ex-cadre posts for DG rank, making it possible for only 14 officers to hold the DG rank at any given time, and hence there is no vacancy as such currently.
Similarly, there are 21 cadre posts for the Additional Director General (ADG) rank, of which up to 25 percent can be ex-cadre posts. As a result, the total number of ADG-level officers can range between 25 and 26. There are currently 33 officers in the ADG rank, which exceeds the sanctioned strength.
So, if the Special DG post is created again, all 18 officers would benefit.
The post of Special DG was first created during the Mayawati government in 2011. It was done to accommodate Brijlal, a 1977-batch IPS officer, who was serving as ADG (Law and Order) because there were no vacant DG posts available. To facilitate his promotion and that of other officers from his batch, the government created the post of Special DG. The rank was revived again on March 30, 2023. At that time, several officers of the 1990 batch, including Prashant Kumar, were promoted to the rank of Special DG.
Speculation around the revival of the Special DG post has intensified because the 1996 batch officers will become eligible for promotion on January 1, and among them is current ADG (Law and Order) Amitabh Yash (IPS:1996:UP), considered one of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s most trusted officers.
Join Us on WhatsApp