IMPHAL, June3: Decks has been cleared for appointment of a new Director General of Police (DGP) amidst protests over the appointment of a junior to the post in the run-up to the recent Manipur Legislative Assembly elections.
It may be recalled here that, Yumnam Joykumar IPS (1976 batch) was shunted following complaints to the Election Commission of India and replaced by the present incumbent Ratnakar Baral IPS (1982 batch).
However, complaints came from several IPS officers senior to R Baral through the Union Home Ministry that their opinions were not sought before Baral was appointed DGP.
As of present, former DGP Joykumar is the seniormost IPS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre and he along with 5 others were superseded by R Baral.
The others are JC Dabas (1977), MK Das (1977), Rajinder kumar (1979), Shahid Ahmad (1979) and Khinya Ram (1981). While Joykumar, Dabas and MK Das are in Imphal the others are on central deputation.
In a bid to elevate Baral to the post of DGP, the others were also given proforma promotion to ex-DGP cadre which is giving sleepless nights to the state Home department.
In the event of appointment of a new DGP of the state police, Ratnakar Baral would have to be downgraded and it could lead to the return of Y Joykumar as the DGP.
While the Home Minister Gaikhangam has reservations with regard to Joykumar he may be left with no other alternative according to highly placed sources.