Acting DGP to head Tamil Nadu police

With incumbent Director-General of Police/Head of Police Force Shankar Jiwal set to retire from service on August 31, 2025, the State government may go ahead posting an ad hoc DGP till a full-time officer is appointed in compliance with the Supreme Court guidelines.

Since a proposal comprising the list of DGP-rank officers qualifying to the top post was not sent to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) within the stipulated time, the State is left with no other option but to appoint an officer to hold additional charge of DGP/HoPF.

The Supreme Court had ruled in the Prakash Singh case that, “all the States shall send their proposals in anticipation of the vacancies to the UPSC well in time, at least three months prior to the date of retirement of the incumbent DGP.”

No concept of acting DGP

The apex court had also ordered that, “none of the States shall ever conceive of the idea of appointing any person on the post of DGP on acting basis for there is no concept of acting DGP as per the decision in Prakash Singh’s case.”

While senior police officers had no clue why the State had not sent the proposal to the UPSC three months before vacancy arose (August 31, 2025), sources in the police headquarters said the file would be dispatched in a day or two.

Replying to a query on appointing the DGP in line with the Supreme Court order and Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines, the State had recently informed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court that the process was on.

Order of seniority

Seema Agrawal, Rajeev Kumar and Sandeep Rai Rathore are expected to find a place in the panel of three officers empanelled by the UPSC. The DGP-rank officers who are next in the line of consideration are K. Vannia Perumal, Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, G. Venkatraman, Vinit Dev Wankhede and Sanjay Mathur. DGPs Pramod Kumar and Abhay Kumar Singh may not be considered as they have less than six months of service left.

Even as rumours are rife that Mr. Venkatraman, now working as DGP (Administration) may be given additional charge of the DGP/HoPF, police sources said the State government may also choose an officer among the top threethat it intends to appoint to the top post.

Even if the list of eligible officers is sent to the UPSC for empanelment this week, it would take at least one month for the process to be completed. Once the list of three names is finalised and sent back, the State Government would have to appoint one among them as DGP/HoPF who would hold the post for a minimum period of two years irrespective of the date of superannuation.