A crucial meeting scheduled for Friday in Delhi to shortlist the names of three Director Generals of Police suitable for appointment as DGP/Chief of Police of Tamil Nadu Police has been postponed, official sources said.
The Chief Secretary and Home Minister arrived in Delhi on Thursday to attend the Empanelment Committee (ECM) meeting convened by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). But the meeting was postponed due to administrative reasons, sources said.
The ECM was convened after the state government sent a revised proposal of DGP officers in grade 16 of the pay scale for consideration for the top post. After requesting some missing data and including the names excluded at the draft level, the UPSC informed that the ECM will be held on March 20, 2026, sources said.
The top three officers in order of seniority are Seema Agrawal, Rajeev Kumar and Sandeep Rai Rathore followed by others. Others on the list are K. Vannia Perumal, Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, G. Venkatraman (currently serving as DGP/HoPF in-charge), Vinit Dev Wankhade, Sanjay Mathur, S. Davidson Devasirvatham, Sandeep Mittal and B. Bala Naga Devi.
The ECM was to discuss the eligibility of the officers by considering their qualifying experience, minimum residual service of six months, annual confidential reports, vigilance cases, if any, pending or initiated etc. to finalize the list of three names for the State Government to select one officer and post him as regular DGP/HoPF for a minimum duration of two years as per Supreme Court directions in the Prakash Sing case
Disposing of a contempt petition filed against the Tamil Nadu government for violating its directions in the appointment of the DGP, the Supreme Court on February 12, 2026 directed the state to submit its proposal to the UPSC within a week. The UPSC has been told to finalize the panel of three officers within two weeks.
In the earlier ECM, the UPSC had finalized the names of the top three officers in order of seniority. However, the state government has not posted any of them as DGP/HoPF. In a statement on the ‘X’ platform, the state law minister said the three officers were not “acceptable” to the state government.
Published – 20 March 2026 23:31 IST
