Lt governor bats for Neeraj Kumar, wants 2-year fixed tenure for him

While the Union home ministry may have overlooked Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar while shortlisting  candidates for the prestigious post of Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) director, the officer has found favour with the Capital’s lieutenant governor Tejendra Khanna who thinks very highly of him.

However, he wants Kumar to continue at his present post, that too for longer than he is supposed to, stretching beyond his retirement on July 31 next year.

As per reliable sources, in a letter to the ministry of home affairs, Khanna has strongly recommended a fixed tenure of two years to Kumar as Delhi police commissioner.
“He is a good and capable officer who has been providing able leadership to Delhi police..” wrote Khanna in his letter to the Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde earlier this week.

While there is no precedent of giving fixed tenure to the Delhi police commissioner, Supreme Court had read out a public interest litigation (PIL) on police reforms in which a fixed tenure of the Delhi police commissioner was recommended.

Khanna’s letter is seen as an attempt to placate Kumar who is peeved with the department of personnel (DoP) for ignoring him even from the list of three shortlisted candidates for the post of CBI director.

While DoP has recommended choosing from among Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) director-general Ranjit Kumar Sinha, National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief S C Sinha and an Uttar Pradesh cadre 1976-batch officer Atul Kumar, Neeraj Kumar thought otherwise and  approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) challenging the DoP's recommendations.  

Kumar has demanded to know why he had been left out from the final list despite a very successful stints with the CBI, the last being as a joint director. The CAT double bench of judges Dr R C Panda and A K Bhardwaj will take up Kumar’s petition for maiden hearing on Friday.

Kumar took over as Delhi police commissioner on June 30 this year, and will retire on July 31 next year unless home ministry considers Khanna’s recommendation.