Mr Prashant Kumar was appointed Acting DGP of Uttar Pradesh police on February 1, 2024 by superseding 16 other officers, some much more experienced than him. But, like his four predecessors, he couldn’t be appointed as a permanent DGP because of non-constitution of the selection board.
The selection board, as per the process guidelines formulated by the state government on November 4, 2024, has to be headed by a former High Court judge and has to have the Chief Secretary, a UPSC nominee, a UP Public Services Commission representative, the Principal Secretary Home, and a retired DGP as its members.
THE HURDLE
The state government hasn’t so far nominated a retired HC judge as chairman of the selection committee. Nor has it nominated a former DGP as member of the committee. Similarly, the UPSC and UPPSC too have to nominate their representatives. Thus, in absence of a selection committee, whosoever is selected as Mr Prashant Kumar’s successor, will be appointed as Acting DGP only.
But, that happen only when the Centre doesn’t grant extension to Mr Prashant Kumar, who is set to retire on May 31, 2025. The state government is learnt to have sent a proposal for six months extension to Mr Kumar but the Centre hasn’t given it its node.
THE DISQUALIFIERS
Interestingly, of the 15 senior most IPS officersof Uttar Pradesh, six do not qualify for the job as they are retiring in less than next six months – thereby not fulfilling the six-month remaining tenure condition, set by the Supreme Court of India in Prakash Singh case. These are Aditya Mishra (retiring on June 30), PV Ramashastry (Retiring on May 31, 2025), Bijay Kumar Maurya (July 2025), Avinash Chandra (retired in January 2025), Sanjay Moreshwar Tarde (Retiring on May 35, 2025) and of course Prashant Kumar (May 31, 2025).
Two of the top 15 are just about crossing the bar. Both Mr Daljit Singh Chaudhury and Ms Tilotama Verma are retiring on November 30, 2025 – exactly six months after the appointment date of the next DGP i.e. June 1, 2025. That is why both of them are being touted as hot favourite for the top job.
THE QUALIFIERS
Though there are some others too in the race. These are Ashish Gupta, the senior most police officer in the state, presently posted as DG Ruled and Manuels (retiring on December 31, 2026), Renuka Mishra, DG (HQ) attached to the DGP (retiring on February 28, 2027), Manmohan Kumar Bashal, DG, Power Corporation who is retiring on February 2026, Alok Sharma, DG of Special Protection Group (SPG), the elite force guarding the Prime Minister and former Prime Ministers (retiring on June 30, 2026), Piyush Anand, DG, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) who is retiring from the service on June 30, 2028, and of course Rajeev Krishna, DG, Vigilance, UP Government, who is retiring on June 2029.
Alok Sharma, Piyush Anand and Rajiv Krishna belong to the 1991 batch of IPS, while Daljit Chaudhury, Renuka Mishra, MK Bashal and Tilotama Verma belong to 1990 batch. Ashish Gupta is the only officer from 1989 batch. While Verma and Mishra are women officers in the race, Bashal is the only Dalit face in the race.
THE PAST
Earlier, DS Chauhan has served as Acting DGP from May 13, 2022 to March 31, 2023; RK Vishwakarma worked as Acting DGP from April 1 to May 31, 2023 (for a period of two months only); VijayKumar from June 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024 and Prashant Kumar from February 1 till now.
