Commissioner of the Delhi Police

Commissioner of Police
Delhi
दिल्ली पुलिस कमिश्नर
Rank Insignia of the Police Commissioner (Director General Rank)
ResidenceNew Delhi Delhi
AppointerMinistry of Home Affairs (India)
Term length60 years of age (whichever earlier)
Renewable at Ministry's pleasure
Constituting instrumentThe Delhi Police Act, 1978[1] [2]
Inaugural holderJ. N. Chaturvedi
Formation1978
DeputyThe Special Commissioner(s) of Police (one or more)
WebsiteOffice of the Commissioner

The Commissioner of Police, Delhi or Delhi Police Commissioner is the head of the Delhi Police, the law enforcement agency of the 15 police districts (as of January 2019) of India's capital, Delhi.

Origins

In 1966, the Government of India constituted the Delhi Police Commission headed by Justice G.D. Khosla to investigate problems faced by Delhi Police. It was on the basis of the Khosla Commission Report that the Delhi Police was reorganised. Four Police districts were constituted: North, Central, South and New Delhi. The Delhi Police Commission also recommended the introduction of Police Commissioner system, which was eventually adopted on 1 July 1978.

Following the recommendations of "Khosla Commission", Commissioner of Police system in Delhi, the capital of India was started in 1978, with J.N. Chaturvedi being appointed as the first Police Commissioner of Delhi. It replaced the earlier Inspector General of Police system, where the Inspector General of police would report to the Divisional Commissioner (India) of Delhi, thus having a dual authority in effect. The Commissioner system brought an end to this dual authority as since then the appointed Commissioner of Police is of Director General of Police (DGP) reports to the Union Home Minister and the Lt Governor.

The longest serving Commissioner of Delhi Police is Krishan Kant Paul who served for 42 months (2004-2007).[3]

Incumbent police commissioner

The present Commissioner of Delhi Police is Sanjay Arora, IPS a 1988 batch officer of Tamil Nadu cadre deputed to AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre, who took office on 1 August 2022.

Former police commissioners

Delhi Police Headquarters
# Name Took office Left office
1 J.N. Chaturvedi Jul 1978 Jan 1980
2 P.S. Bhinder Jan 1980 Dec 1981
3 Bajrang Lal Dec 1981 Apr 1983
4 S.C. Tandon Apr 1983 Nov 1984
5 S.S. Jog Nov 1984 Apr 1985
6 Ved Marwah Apr 1985 Apr 1988
7 Raja Vijay Karan Apr 1988 Dec 1990
8 Arun Bhagat Dec 1990 Feb 1992
9 M.B. Kaushal Feb 1992 Jan 1995
10 Nikhil Kumar Jan 1995 Apr 1997
11 T.R. Kakkar Apr 1997 May 1998
12 V.N. Singh May 1998 Jun 1999
13 Ajay Raj Sharma Jul 1999 Jun 2002
14 R.S. Gupta Jul 2002 Feb 2004
15 Krishan Kant Paul Feb 2004 Jul 2007
16 Y.S. Dadwal Jul 2007 Nov 2010
17 B.K. Gupta Nov 2010 Jun 2012
18 Neeraj Kumar[4][5] Jun 2012 Jul 2013
19 Bhim Sain Bassi[6] Jul 2013 Feb 2016
20 Alok Kumar Verma[7] Feb 2016 Jan 2017
21 Amulya Patnaik Feb 2017 Feb 2020
22 S.N.Srivastava March 2020 June 2021
23 Balaji Srivastava (Interim) July 2021 July 2021
24 Rakesh Asthana July 2021[8] July 2022
25 Sanjay Arora Aug 2022 Current

Controversy

Opposition parties questioned the appointment of Rakesh Asthana, a 1984-Gujarat cadre IPS officer, as the Commissioner, who was appointed to the post on 27 July 2021, just before 4 days of his superannuation.[9][10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records for discharging functions". Delhi Police. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  2. ^ "The Delhi Police Act, 1978" (PDF). humanrightsinitiative.org.
  3. ^ "KK Paul is new governor of Meghalaya". The Telegraph. 2 July 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  4. ^ "FORMER COMMISSIONERS OF DELHI POLICE". Delhi Police. 2 May 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  5. ^ "Tihar DG Neeraj Kumar named Delhi Police Commissioner". 29 June 2012.
  6. ^ B S Bassi to be new Delhi Police Commissioner
  7. ^ "Alok Takes Charge As Delhi's New Police Commissioner". NDTV. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  8. ^ Trivedi, Saurabh (28 July 2021). "Rakesh Asthana appointed Delhi Police Commissioner". The Hindu. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  9. ^ Langa, Mahesh (28 July 2021). "For Rakesh Asthana, new role as Delhi Police Commissioner comes as vindication". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  10. ^ "Congress questions appointment of Rakesh Asthana as Delhi Police chief". The Indian Express. 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.