Kerala Police chief appointment to be made on Monday

Thiruvananthapuram: The announcement of the new state police chief will be made on Monday. The cabinet meeting in the morning will decide to announce one person from the three-member UPSC list as the police chief. The government had earlier sought legal advice for the appointment of the in-charge police chief, but since the UPSC met and handed over the shortlist, there will now only be a permanent appointment. 

Nitin Agarwal, who was on central deputation for a long time, Ravada Chandrashekhar, and fire service chief Yogesh Gupta are on the shortlist. Although there are indications that one of the first two will be considered, the fact that both of them were on central deputation for a long time is confusing the government. Nitin Agarwal has returned to Kerala.

There are in-charge police chiefs in 10 states in India. In Andhra Pradesh, there is a temporary chief for more than five months. Although Karnataka has sent the list, it has been about a month and a half since the UPSC meeting has not been held. No other states have submitted the list to the Centre on time.

It is also pointed out that since Kerala sent the list to the Centre on time and the UPSC met and took a decision on the list within the stipulated time, appointing someone from outside would be violation of the law.