BANGALORE: There is discontent among senior IPS officers over the manner in which the State Government overlooked the seniority of five officers and appointed Additional Director-Generals of Police (ADGPs) Neelam Achuta Rao as the Bangalore Police Commissioner.

Five ADGPs overlooked

In posting Mr. Rao as Police Commissioner, the Government overlooked the seniority of five ADGPs: Jija Madhavan Harisingh and Subash Bharani of the 1975 batch, and Sharath C. Saxena, D.V. Guruprasad and S.T. Ramesh of the 1976 batch. Though Mr. Rao is also of the 1976 batch, he is the junior-most of the batch. "The Government has indirectly sent a message to the public that the five officials are unfit for the job of Police Commissioner," said an ADGP, whose seniority has been overlooked, on condition of anonymity.

The Government should have taken into account seniority, merit and track record of all the officials eligible for the post before taking a decision. But the Government has not done that, he told The Hindu .

However, the senior-most ADGP, Ms. Harisingh, said though she was disappointed that she was not appointed to the post, she would sincerely discharge her duties as Managing Director of Jungle Lodges and Resorts.

"I was hoping that the Government would post me as the Police Commissioner, and I was totally prepared for it. But the Government has its own reasons, given its macro-responsibilities," she said.

Ms. Harisingh said that if she had been made Police Commissioner she would have been the first woman in the country to serve as Police Commissioner of a metropolitan city.

It would have been a feather in the cap of Karnataka, she added.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail