If sources are to be believed, the state police administration will have to wait some more time for a permanent chief of police after officiating director general of police (DGP) DS Chauhan (IPS:1988:UP) hangs up his boots today.
The state government seems in no hurry to determine the next chief of the state police, so Prashant Kumar (IPS:1990:UP) additional director general (law and order) might be given the responsibility of officiating DGP until the permanent state police chief is named.
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DS Chauhan has been officiating DGP for around 10 months now after Mukul Goel was removed from the post following allegations of inaction and lack of interest towards work. Chauhan was never confirmed as the full-time DGP due to disagreement over his posting among the stake holders in appointing the state police chief.
Since Mukul Goel (IPS:1987:UP), DG, Civil Defence, is the senior-most IPS officer in the cadre and is scheduled to retire in February 2024, he is unlikely to get another chance as state police chief since he was removed from the post by the state government in May of last year.
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So, four IPS officers from the 1988 batch are the main contenders for the coveted post: RK Vishwakarma, Anil Agarwal, Anand Kumar and Vijaya Kumar. Anil Agarwal retires in April and RK Vishwakarma in May. Hence, they don’t have the minimum six months of service left for consideration for the post.
