Police needs more Mahesh Bhagwats

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POLICE & STATE V.BALACHANDRAN www.sunday-guardian.com/profile/v-balachandran

V. Balachandran is a former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat.

Police needs more Sanjeev Dayals, Mahesh Bhagwats

	Sanjeev Dayal new police leadership is in place in Maharashtra. Despite the intense media glare on the merits of the prospective candidates for the top jobs, the decisions taken by the Chief Minister and the state Home Minister seem to have satisfied all. I have often wondered why top police appointments merit such close media scrutiny. It gives the impression of a bitter struggle among prospective candidates. Is it because there is a surfeit of top posts in every state police, similar to the overblown IAS bureaucracy? In the earlier days, an unwritten pattern was in place about state police positions. No one wangled to jump the line. The pattern went topsy-turvy when IPS officers made state administrations create innumerable posts of additional DGPs (ADGPs) to hold the responsibilities till then discharged by superintendents of police (SPs). The hero of the recent reshuffle is Mumbai police commissioner Sanjeev Dayal, who, in the highest tradition of service ethics, refused to stay even an extra day in his post despite Maharashtra Home Minister's request that he should leave after managing the World Cup final. Dayal was promoted to the post of Director General of Police, Police Housing, which, despite the elevated rank, is less glamorous than the post of commissioner. He told the state administration that he did not want any "adjustments" as that would have given the impression that he was hankering to stay on in the powerful slot as had happened in some cases earlier. Dayal had proved during his short tenure of nine months as commissioner that he was no pushover on the principles of police governance. There have been similar shining examples, mostly unreported. In 1987, the chief of an important Central intelligence organisation turned down Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's request to accept an extension. I was then working as the chief's staff officer. The PM was toying with the idea of fixed tenures for IB and RAW chiefs. He called this officer to find out his views on whether the tenure should be five or three years. The latter was nearing superannuation after a one and half year's tenure. He suggested three years as there were chances of a "burnout" in such high tension jobs with a five-year tenure. At that juncture the PM asked him to continue for another one and half years. To the PM's utter surprise, and annoyance, the officer turned down the offer. He told the PM frankly that he would have continued if he had told him about a three-year tenure at the time of his appointment. He went a step further and advised the PM not to give extensions to officers on the verge of retirement as he would not get frank and independent advice from them. { Dayal had proved during his short tenure of nine months as commissioner that he was no pushover on the principles of police governance.
	e hear stories of police brutality while dealing with Maoists. But have we ever heard of police officers confronting them through other means than using arms? I had gone to meet the late S.R. Sankaran and others in Hyderabad in October 2007 to study the Naxal movement (The Sunday Guardian, 14 November 2010). A senior editor told me how Mahesh Bhagwat, an innovative IPS officer had checkmated Naxalite activities in 2004 by using his influence to get a road built at Gangapur in Adilabad district which was a hotbed of Naxalite activities. This remote village, 16 km from the main road, used to depend on Kadam, located 40 km away to sell their paddy or forest produce. Very often moneylenders or traders would make them trek that distance once again to collect payment. The village school was unmanned since no teacher was ready to work in that remote area. Neither the civil administration nor the local Member of Parliament had thought of building a road. So when the two-time MP came to attend the road inauguration ceremony, he was booed at by the public. Now the villagers are able to bypass Kadam to sell their produce at other markets. Since they are located on the Maharashtra-Andhra border, they are even able to sell cotton at higher prices. In fact wholesale traders in Maharashtra are sending their trucks to Gangapur to collect the produce. Teachers have started coming to their school. The net effect is that the Naxalites have "vanished" from the area. Perhaps we should have more Sanjeev Dayals and Mahesh Bhagwats in our police.