Speculation over Election Commission guidelines put to rest with the arrival of Centre's letter on Friday, approving his extension
Sanjay Barve
The state home department has given Commissioner of Police Sanjay Barve a three-month extension in service with the Centre's approval. The nod came on Friday evening, the penultimate day of Barve's retirement, which is on August 31 (today). The decision put to rest speculations that Barve would not continue in view of the Election Commission of India's (ECI) guidelines that superannuated officers should not be given important responsibilities during the polls.
The home department headed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made its reasons amply clear for continuing with the officer. The Cabinet committee of appointments of the Union government's Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) approved the proposal a day ahead of Barve's retirement. The approval letter was sent Friday to the Maharashtra government.
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Letter of approval for Barve's extension by the Centre
Maharashtra Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in October and a model code of conduct is expected to come into force in the second week of September. ECI policy on posting of officers says that if an officer, who is due to retire within six months, is holding an election related post, he shall be relieved of that charge and not be associated with any election related duty. Now given the extension, Barve will be in charge of maintaining law and order in the 36 seats in Mumbai city and suburbs.
The 1987 batch officer of the rank of DGP took over as Mumbai CP on February 28 this year. So far, Barve has served only six months in the coveted position that some DGP rank and ADGP rank officers were lobbying for if he failed to get the extension.
For many years, the city CP's post has been equal to the rank of DGP. With Barve's extension the post will continue to be held by a DG rank officer. Thane, Pune and Nagpur police chiefs are of ADGP rank and it generally follows that the officers who have held these posts are considered for Mumbai's top position. But, there have been exceptions to this in the recent past. Some officers were brought back from the Centre's deputation to lead the city police force.
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