DPC for 3 senior most IPS officers’ elevation concludes

 

 

 

 

 

The long-awaited Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meeting for senior most Indian Police Service (IPS) of Chhattisgarh cadre has finally concluded. Following the DPC held at the Mantralaya, the path for promoting ADG Arun Dev Gautam and Himanshu Gupta to the rank of DG has been cleared. The DPC has approved the promotions of these two IPS officers. The file is reported to have reached the Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai through the Home Minister. Once the Chief Minister’s approval is obtained, the promotion orders for both officers are expected to be issued soon. It is noteworthy that while State currently has two cadre posts for Director General (DG), the Government has the option to create two ex-cadre posts, allowing for a total of four DG positions. Presently, only one of these posts is filled, with Ashok Juneja serving as DGP.

 

The remaining three positions are vacant. After Juneja, Rajesh Mishra was SDG both of whom have retired and are currently on contract posting. According to seniority, there are currently two IPS officers from the 1992 batch, Pawan Deo and Arun Dev Gautam whereas Himanshu Gupta is an officer of 1994 batch. The DPC was convened for these three officers. Despite being a top contender from the 1992 batch, Pawan Deo’s promotion was stalled due to an ongoing departmental inquiry against him. However, if the inquiry concludes favorably soon, he could still be promoted without needing another DPC.

 

The DPC has reserved his post for future consideration. However as per provisions the three officers would have to undergo a mandatory process of being given the rank of Special Director General of Police (SDGP). The state currently has vacancy of three SDGs, following the retirement of Durgesh Madhav Awasthi, Sanjay Pillay and Rajesh Mishra, three senior most IPS officers of Chhattisgarh cadre. Chhattisgarh DGP Ashok Juneja is slated to retire in the first week of August. His appointment as full-time DGP was issued on August 5, 2022, and his two-year tenure will conclude on August 4. By then, there will be two DGs, Arun Dev Gautam and Himanshu Gupta. If the state government decides to appoint a DG based on seniority, Arun Gautam is likely to be chosen. However, the government a