Kochi: The government appointed Anil Kant as the new Kerala police chief after the present incumbent Loknath Behera is set to retire on Wednesday.

Anil Kant of 1988 batch is Road Safety commissioner and is a low profile officer. Hailing from Delhi, Kant will write himself into record books by becoming the first from the Dalit community to become the top police officer in Kerala.

The cabinet which met here on Wednesday approved the name of Anil Kant as the new DGP. The new police chief will have a fixed tenure of 2 years. Though Kant has eight more months for superannuation, the rules are the service can be extended for two years.

For a long time, police chiefs were selected by state governments. The state first sends a list of eligible candidates to the UPSC, which then screens the list based on norms and sends back three, and the government can post anyone from the list.This pattern has changed with the intervention of the Supreme Court.

The Kerala government had first sent a list of 12 eligible candidates, which after the first screening by the UPSC, it was brought down to 9 and after further vetting, the UPSC returned the list of three which includes Sudheesh Kumar, the head of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Sandhya - presently head of the Fire Force and Anil Kant - the Road Safety Commissioner.

Anil Kant, who succeeds DGP Loknath Behera, will be the first Kerala police chief to be selected from the list recommended by the UPSC committee.

Women security top priority

Expressing happiness, Kant said women security would be his top priority, as always has been the case.

"Women and children's safety will be our prime concern and all the programmes of my predecessor will be taken forward. I am happy and thankful to the chief minister and the department to have given me this post," said Kant, hearing about the new posting.

Kant will get the rank of the director general of police only at the end of next month when DGP Rishiraj Singh retires.