U.P. government grants apex pay scale to acting DGP, bypassing 12 senior IPS officers

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with State DGP Prashant Kumar during an event. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Uttar Pradesh government has granted the highest pay scale to its acting Director General of Police (DGP) Prashant Kumar, bypassing at least 12 senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers above him in the hierarchy.

The apex pay scale is typically reserved for the head of the police force in a State. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled State has not had a full-time DGP since May 2022.

Despite multiple reminders sent by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the State has not formed a panel of senior officers eligible to be appointed as a police chief as prescribed by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) guidelines.

U.P. is not the only State to have violated these guidelines. Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Telangana, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, and Jharkhand are the other States which have also appointed DGPs “in-charge”.

Order kept quiet

Oddly, the order granting the apex scale to Mr. Kumar has not been publicised or issued in the public domain. The last time such an order was issued, granting the apex scale to the previous acting DGP D.S. Chauhan on March 30, 2023, the notification was released in the public domain.

A U.P. government official said all norms had been followed. “These are internal orders and were issued as per rules and regulations,” said the official.

UPSC guidelines

On September 23, 2023, the UPSC issued fresh guidelines regarding the appointment of State DGPs, stating that only those officers who have at least six months of service remaining would be considered for the post.

According to the IPS Pay Rules, 2016, “the post of DGP (Head of Police Force) in the apex scale (Level 17) shall be filled by selection from amongst the officers holding the post of DGP in the State cadre in the Level 16 of the Pay Matrix.”

Though the police force is a State subject, the IPS officers who are constituents of the All India Services are appointed by the UPSC on behalf of the Union government, and their services are placed under State cadres.

Police reforms

On September 6, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Jharkhand government on a plea moved by a Jamshedpur resident against the appointment of acting DGP Anurag Gupta. A 1990-batch IPS officer, Mr. Gupta was appointed as “in-charge” DGP on July 27 replacing Ajay Kumar Singh, a 1989 batch officer who was appointed on February 15, 2023.

“The appointment of Anurag Gupta to the post of Acting DGP of Jharkhand on adhoc basis is in clear violation of the judgment of this Court in Prakash Singh vs Union of India [Writ Petition (Civil) No 310 of 1996 and the order dated 16 January 2023 in the contempt proceedings [Contempt Petition (Civil) No 403 of 2021],” the petitioners appeal in Supreme Court said. The court will hear the matter next on September 23.

In 2009, the UPSC had first framed its guidelines for the panel of officers eligible for appointment as State DGPs after a Supreme Court verdict in the police reforms case of 2006. Former U.P. DGP Prakash Singh had filed the petition on police reforms, after which the top court issued a slew of directions which required that the DGP be selected by the State government from among the three seniormost officers of the department who have been empanelled for promotion to that rank by the UPSC on the basis of the length of their service.