By Vijay Kumar

Copyright thehindu

The Union Public Service Commission will hold the crucial Empanelment Committee Meeting in Delhi on Friday to finalise a panel of three 3 IPS officers fit for appointment as Director General of Police/Head of Police Force of Tamil Nadu police.

The State will be represented by its Chief Secretary N. Muruganandam. While the meeting will be chaired by the Chairperson, UPSC, the Union Home Secretary or his nominee, and a DGP heading one of the Central Armed Paramilitary Forces would be other members of the committee.

Though the incumbent DGP is also a member, this year G. Venkatraman, who is holding the post of in-charge DGP/HoPF would not be part of the meeting since he is also a candidate for the top post.

Going by the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in the Prakash Singh case, the UPSC will shortlist a panel of 3 DGPs of which one would be immediately appointed as regular DGP/HoPF with a minimum tenure of two years irrespective of the date of superannuation.

As the situation stands, DGPs Seema Agrawal, Rajeev Kumar, and Sandeep Rai Rathore top the list of eight officers forwarded to the UPSC. The other names are K. Vannia Perumal, Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, G. Venkatraman, Vinit Dev Wankhede, and Sanjay Mathur.

However, police sources said the State had withdrawn the integrity certificate issued to one officer. It was not clear whether any inquiry was conducted against the officer concerned and charge-memo issued. It would be the discretion of the UPSC whether to accept or reject such withdrawal in the last minute.

In case a DGP’s candidature is rejected on the basis of any specific reason, the officer next in the order seniority would be considered for the panel, the sources said.

While the tenure of the previous DGP Shankar Jiwal ended on August 30, 2025, a regular HoPF could not be appointed since the State did not send the proposal three months before the vacancy arose as per the apex court guidelines.

When a contempt case was initiated in the top court, the State said the list of eligible officers could not be sent as one of the DGP rank officer had moved the Central Administrative Tribunal seeking inclusion of his name in the panel.