T’puram: The govt will soon appoint the next eligible officer to the rank of DGP as it has suspended ADGP M R Ajith Kumar for ‘protecting’ former CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s security team in the Nava Kerala assault case in Dec 2023. The move has also set in motion a complex succession exercise, with the govt possibly having to temporarily expand the IPS cadre in the coming months when another officer returns from central deputation or if Kumar is later exonerated.It is learned that chief secretary Biswanath Sinha has recommended that the chief minister promote ADGP S Sreejith to the DGP rank. Kumar, a 1995-batch IPS officer, is set to retire in Jan 2027, while Sreejith, also from the 1995 batch, will retire in May 2027. If Kumar is eventually exonerated after the months-long disciplinary proceedings end, the govt would have to promote him to the DGP rank.That could create an administrative challenge as the Kerala cadre has only four DGP-rank posts. Then, govt would have to demote to the rank of ADGP the officer it promoted in Kumar’s place, unless the proceedings conclude before June next year, when incumbent state police chief Ravada A Chandrasekhar retires, creating a regular vacancy in the DGP rank.The succession issue could become complicated with the expected return of 1995-batch IPS officer Suresh Rajpurohit, whose central deputation ends in Jan 2027. The govt will have to elevate him to the DGP rank if he returns as he is senior to Kumar.Since Rajpurohit would retire within the next four months, the govt is likely to invoke the second proviso in Rule 4(2) of the IPS (Cadre) Rules that empowers it to temporarily add a similar cadre post for a year. This would enable Rajpurohit’s promotion without disturbing the existing cadre structure.Govt had suspended Kumar after it received the state police chief’s enquiry report. The govt will appoint an officer to begin the enquiry against Kumar. Sources said it will be difficult for Kumar to dodge disciplinary action as the charges against him are serious. The charge is that he had manipulated the case filed against the then CM’s security team that assaulted Youth Congress activists during a protest in Alappuzha in Dec 2023.
