Dehradun: Abhinav Kumar, a senior IPS officer and the Director General of Police (DGP) in Uttarakhand, has raised concerns over his exclusion from a panel submitted to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). He has formally addressed this issue with the state Chief Secretary, Radha Raturi, arguing that the UPSC’s decision goes against a High Court stay order.
Abhinav Kumar, who has served in Uttarakhand for 24 years, was initially allotted to the Uttar Pradesh cadre but opted for Uttarakhand when the state was formed. Despite a 2014 High Court stay order supporting his position, the UPSC excluded his name from the DGP panel, favoring officers from the 1995 and 1997 batches.
DGP Abhinav Kumar says
When asked about this, DGP Abhinav Kumar said that he has given his representation to the state government after the DPC held on September 30, on which the government is sending it to UPSC for reconsideration after taking legal opinion.
The DGP said that in the DPC meeting, the Chief Secretary had also given his dissent note as a representative of the state government, which is included in the minutes of the DPC.
He said that he is sure that UPSC will reconsider the dissent note of the Chief Secretary, his representation being sent by the state government after taking legal opinion.
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IPS officer Abhinav Kumar in his representation has requested the Home Ministry to reconsider the decision of UPSC by seeking the panel proposal from the state government again.
Representation by Abhinav Kumar
Abhinav Kumar has said in his representation that in the year 1996, he was allotted a home cadre since his home district is Bareilly, but in August 2000, the state of Uttarakhand was announced and in September 2000 he opted for the Uttarakhand cadre but at the time of formation of the state in November 2000, he was kept in the Uttar Pradesh cadre.
For reconsideration of this decision, Abhinav Kumar gave a representation to the Government of India with the consent of the governments of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, which was rejected by the Government of India in the year 2005.
This decision of the Government of India was challenged by Abhinav Kumar in the competent court.
High Court stay
In the year 2014, the Uttarakhand High Court gave a stay order in favour of Abhinav Kumar in this matter, which is still effective today. As per the order of CAT Allahabad, Abhinav Kumar is still working in the Uttarakhand cadre.
In the representation given to the Chief Secretary, Abhinav Kumar said that during his 24 years of service, all the promotions have been given to him by the Uttarakhand government. For the last time on January 1, 2021, he was given ADG promotion in Uttarakhand itself.
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Last year in November 2023, he was appointed as the acting DGP by the Pushkar Singh Dhami government. Prior to this, he has also been the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister from July 2021 to November 2023.
Through a representation given to the state's Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, IPS officer Abhinav Kumar has requested the Home Ministry to call a meeting to reconsider this decision of UPSC by seeking the proposal of the DGP panel from the state government again.
The names of 6 IPS officers including in-charge DGP Abhinav Kumar were sent to UPSC by the Uttarakhand government. The commission included the names of two IPS officers of the 1995 batch as well as an officer of the 1997 batch and left out the name of Abhinav Kumar of the 1996 batch.
It is worth mentioning here that IPS officer Abhinav Kumar has been serving in Uttarakhand since the time of Uttar Pradesh. He has received promotions from ASP, Senior Superintendent of Police to Additional Director General of Police in Uttarakhand itself. (with Agency inputs)
