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Singhal's appointment as Bihar DGP: Twists in the tale
By M K Shukla & Rakesh Ranjan- 21 Dec 2020
2678New Delhi (21.12.2020): SK Singhal (IPS;1988:BH) was appointed full-time DGP of Bihar on December 19, 2020. He will superannuate on August 31, 2021. Even though this marks the end of over a month-long vacillation and indecision since the new NDA government was sworn in, the filling of the critical position in the law-and-order sensitive state is seen to have created a few twists in the tale. It is pointed out that the case of the 1987 batch officer Dinesh Singh Bisht, who is posted as DG of Bihar state sports authority, was ignored. And the chances for Arvind Pandey, who is Singhal's batchmate and currently posted as DG-cum-civil defense commissioner, were damaged. On December 8, 2020, Pandey was punished by way of salary hike prevention and deduction of two increments on the basis of departmental proceedings initiated against him 23 years ago when he served as the SP of Palamu. It was alleged that a BDO was killed then by Maoists because of the dereliction of duty on his part. Never mind the fact that the charge was never proven and he continued to grow in his career since. Since Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, fortunately, or unfortunately, is known to have strong likings and dislikings (and his dislikings are said to often verge on extreme acts), career officers from central services are often indifferent to serving in the state government. This applies also to the latest DGP appointment case. Three officers senior to Singhal, Kumar Rajesh Chandra (1985), Sheel Vardhan Singh (1986), and A Sema Rajan (1987), who are on central deputation, reportedly declined to return to the state. Man Mohan Singh, another batchmate of Singhal, is on central deputation. He, too, was not said to have been interested in returning to the state. It may be recalled that the state DGP post has been vacant since the previous incumbent, Gupteshwar Pandey took a VRS in September to contest the state Assembly election. Singhal was then appointed to officiate as DGP till the final decision. Indianmandarins has learned that, following Pandey's exit, the state government, in a display of apparent partiality reflective of the CM's approach to 'Susashan', submitted a panel of six DG-rank IPS officers to the UPSC., which, on its part, returned the list asking the state government to prepare a fresh panel with the names of all DG-rank officers in compliance with the SC guidelines. Instead of following the 'tedious' process as desired by the UPSC, the state government considered it safe and better to confirm the officiating DGP in his post. Meantime, it is learned that Sobha Ohatker and Neeraj Sinha (both of 1990 batch) may be soon promoted as DG as two DG-rank officers, Rajesh Ranjan (1984 batch) and Ashok Kumar Verma (1986 batch), retired from service on November 30 and June 30 respectively. 
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Singhal's appointment as Bihar DGP: Twists in the tale
By M K Shukla & Rakesh Ranjan - 2020-12-21 10:22:00
New Delhi (21.12.2020): SK Singhal (IPS;1988:BH) was appointed full-time DGP of Bihar on December 19, 2020. He will superannuate on August 31, 2021.
Even though this marks the end of over a month-long vacillation and indecision since the new NDA government was sworn in, the filling of the critical position in the law-and-order sensitive state is seen to have created a few twists in the tale.
It is pointed out that the case of the 1987 batch officer Dinesh Singh Bisht, who is posted as DG of Bihar state sports authority, was ignored. And the chances for Arvind Pandey, who is Singhal's batchmate and currently posted as DG-cum-civil defense commissioner, were damaged.
On December 8, 2020, Pandey was punished by way of salary hike prevention and deduction of two increments on the basis of departmental proceedings initiated against him 23 years ago when he served as the SP of Palamu. It was alleged that a BDO was killed then by Maoists because of the dereliction of duty on his part.
Never mind the fact that the charge was never proven and he continued to grow in his career since.
Since Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, fortunately, or unfortunately, is known to have strong likings and dislikings (and his dislikings are said to often verge on extreme acts), career officers from central services are often indifferent to serving in the state government. This applies also to the latest DGP appointment case. Three officers senior to Singhal, Kumar Rajesh Chandra (1985), Sheel Vardhan Singh (1986), and A Sema Rajan (1987), who are on central deputation, reportedly declined to return to the state. Man Mohan Singh, another batchmate of Singhal, is on central deputation. He, too, was not said to have been interested in returning to the state.
It may be recalled that the state DGP post has been vacant since the previous incumbent, Gupteshwar Pandey took a VRS in September to contest the state Assembly election. Singhal was then appointed to officiate as DGP till the final decision.
Indianmandarins has learned that, following Pandey's exit, the state government, in a display of apparent partiality reflective of the CM's approach to 'Susashan', submitted a panel of six DG-rank IPS officers to the UPSC., which, on its part, returned the list asking the state government to prepare a fresh panel with the names of all DG-rank officers in compliance with the SC guidelines.
Instead of following the 'tedious' process as desired by the UPSC, the state government considered it safe and better to confirm the officiating DGP in his post.
Meantime, it is learned that Sobha Ohatker and Neeraj Sinha (both of 1990 batch) may be soon promoted as DG as two DG-rank officers, Rajesh Ranjan (1984 batch) and Ashok Kumar Verma (1986 batch), retired from service on November 30 and June 30 respectively.
