Maharashtra govt’s power-sharing model passed down to the Mumbai police force

Office of the Commissioner of Mumbai Police in Crawford Market. File pic

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday created a new post in the Mumbai Police force - special commissioner of police. This is similar to the post of deputy chief minister in terms of state administration. In fact, it is Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis who pushed for the new post. The home department, which is also held by Fadnavis, in the order stated that the post has been created for effective supervision of the joint commissioners in the city police force. The government has appointed IPS officer Deven Bharti as the first ever special CP of Mumbai police.

The special CP - an additional director general of police-rank officer - will report to the CP while the five joint commissioners will report to the special CP.

The most coveted post in the Maharashtra police force is that of Mumbai police commissioner for which top IPS officers are always in the race. Even as far back as the nineties, the post was said to be as lucrative as it was prestigious, and candidates had to lobby hard to land the top job.

The office of the Mumbai police commissioner, in Crawford Market

Now, with the creation of the post of special commissioner, sources in Mumbai police said, the power of Mumbai CP Vivek Phansalkar will be divided. Some also believe that Bharti, a 1994 batch IPS officer, is expected to report to the government. "What is the reaction of Phansalkar himself?" asked P S Pasricha, a retired IPS officer.

Also Read: Deven Bharti appointed as Special Commissioner of Mumbai Police

Concern and scope

"The jurisdiction of the special CP should be very well defined, else there will be overlaps in the work. Unless the special commissioner's specific responsibilities are well defined and known, it will be imprudent to comment on this," Pasricha told mid-day.

Sources in the Mantralaya told mid-day, "His [Bharti's] old team members were given cream posts in Mumbai police before the government decided to create a new post."

However, retired IPS officers said the new post will give opportunity to ADG-rank officers whose vast experience of policing were not utilised so far.

"There is a need to have the post of a special commissioner of ADG-rank. The post of Mumbai CP was upgraded to DG long ago, and there was no body between the DG rank and inspector general-rank, ie. joint CPs. So, to fill up this vacuum, the post of special commissioner has been created," said Pravin Dixit, retired DGP of Maharashtra.

He added, "Till now, the experience of senior officers who were promoted to ADG rank was not utilised. In other words, we can say that their valuable experience of 30 years was being discarded and the government was losing out."

"So, the government seems to have rectified the lacunae by creating the post. Now, ADG-rank officers can be roped in and their valuable experience can be utilised," he said, adding, "There is a hierarchy within the police department. So, the commissioner will be overall in-charge of Mumbai police and the special commissioner will report to him. The work of all the Joint CPs will be supervised by the special commissioner."

Cue from Delhi

The post of special CP was created along the lines of Delhi police. "The Commissioner of Delhi Police is equivalent to the DGP of a state. And the special commissioners are of the ADG rank. These Special Commissioners are the heads of different units such as law and order, special cell, security, crime and economic offences wing, vigilance, special branch, etc. The commissioner of Delhi Police supervises the work of the special CPs," said a senior executive who works closely with Delhi Police.

Former Maharashtra DGP Dixit added that like Delhi, Mumbai too needed multiple special CPs. "Keeping in mind the rising population and crime, there is an urgent requirement to create new police stations in Mumbai. And for better policing, we need to have at least three special commissioners - admin, law and order, and intelligence," he said.

Five
No. of joint commissioners in the Mumbai police

1994
Deven Bharti's IPS batch