The Uttar Pradesh government will not follow the UPSC rule in the appointment of the Director General of Police (DGP) and Chief Secretary.
In a late night cabinet meeting on Monday, the Yogi Adityanath government amended The Appointment Rules and approved a new set of rules for independent and transparent selection of DGP by a panel headed by a retired High Court judge.
With this, the government will not send names to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) panel for the appointment of the DGP.
“The objective of the Appointment Rules, 2024 is to establish an independent and transparent mechanism for selection of a suitable person for appointment to the post of DGP to ensure that the said selection is free from political or executive interference and is also in accordance with the specific conditions and policing requirements of Uttar Pradesh,” the new guidelines said.
The selection committee, headed by a retired High Court judge, will consist of the Chief Secretary, a person nominated by the UPSC, the UP Public Service Commission Chairman or their nominee, Additional Chief Secretary or Principal Secretary Home and a retired DGP.
The minimum tenure of the DGP will be two years as per the new amendment. The candidates must have six months of service remaining on the date of creation of the vacancy. Only those officers who are currently serving in the DG role at Level 16 of the Pay Matrix will be considered, the guidelines stated.
According to sources, UP DGP Prashant Kumar may be made the full-time DGP with a fixed two-year tenure with this amendment.
Reacting to the amendment, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav asked if this was an attempt by the state government to take the reins from Delhi into its own hands. “I have heard that arrangements are being made to give a permanent post to a senior officer and extend his tenure by 2 years… The question is whether the person making the arrangements will himself stay for 2 years or not. Is this an attempt to take the reins from Delhi into their own hands,” he said in a post on X.