At least three Central Police Organisations (CPOs), including CBI and NCB, besides two Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) or paramilitary, CRPF and NSG, are headless in the face of absence of appointments of regular chiefs. These agencies are working with ad hoc chiefs.
While the post of Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is vacant since February 3 when the then incumbent RK Shukla retired from service after completion of the fixed two-year tenure, 1984-batch Gujarat cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana is holding additional charge of the chief of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) after his appointment as Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) on August 17 last year.
The CBI is currently headed by 1988-batch Gujarat cadre IPS officer Praveen Sinha, presently additional director in the investigating agency, as an interim chief till a regular appointment.
The CBI chief is appointed by a high-level panel headed by the Prime Minister that also includes the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha and a meeting of the committee is yet to be called, sources said.
Likewise, the post of the chief of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), also a CPO, is vacant after the incumbent Director General and 1986-batch IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre was moved to the Union Home Ministry has Special Secretary (Internal Security) from August 19 last year for tenure till November 30, 2022.
The elite counter-terror CAPF or paramilitary National Security Guard (NSG) is headless since October 1 last year as the then Director General AK Singh retired from service on September 30 and ITBP Chief SS Deswal is holding additional charge of the top post in the Force.
While the Centre on Friday appointed the outgoing CRPF DG AP Maheshwari as an advisor to Puducherry’s Lieutenant Governor, two days before his superannuation from the Indian Police Service (IPS) on Sunday, the appointment of the chief of the paramilitary is yet to be made. The CPRF is the world’s biggest paramilitary with a strength of over 3.25 lakh personnel.
While the CBI comes under the administrative control of the Department of Personnel and Training, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), National Security Guard (NSG), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) report to the Union Home Ministry that is also the cadre controlling authority for the IPS officers in the country.
