Uttarakhand finally got its regular Director General of Police (DGP) after a gap of almost a year. State cadre 1995 batch IPS officer Deepam Seth returned from his five year long central deputation on Monday and assumed the office as 12th police chief of the state following much awaited order issued by the state home department.
State home department issued the joining letter for Deepam Seth amidst apprehension of more than one and half month. A final panel of three names of eligible IPS officer sent by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) was kept under the wraps by the state government leading to delay in the appointment of new DGP of the state. Earlier state government delayed sending names of its eligible IPS officials to the UPSC and the centre for Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meeting, a mandatory procedure for appointing new police head in all the states. Uttarakhand government rather decided to continue with Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Abhinav Kumar as Acting DGP of state immediately after the retirement of Seth’s predecessor Ashok Kumar on November 30, 2023. Finally following an order by the SC for expediting appointing regular police head Uttarakhand government sent a list of seven IPS officials including that of Abhinav Kumar to the UPSC. Following this UPSC short listed its three-member panel for appointing new DGP of Uttarakhand. UPSC list excluded name of Kumar.
Spelling out his priorities as new DGP of Uttarakhand, Seth expressed that he will try to usher in more transparency in policing and make it more people centric. He said state police in his leadership will work actively to curb increasing drug culture in the state, focus on checking cybercrime and special attention will be paid towards safety of the children and women in Uttarakhand.
A BITS Pilani Engineering graduate and doctorate from IIT Roorkee, he was serving central deputation since 2019. Going by officials in the state home department his return from deputation was delayed for the delay caused by the state government in sending names to the UPSC for DPC.
It’s significant that as state government kept the UPSC’s panel of final names in back burners, Kumar on his part wrote to state government objecting to his alleged excessive role of UPSC and union home department in appoint DGP in the state. He asked the state home department headed by none other than chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami that Uttarakhand government must appoint new DGP in accordance with Uttaarakhand Police Act.