Hyderabad: Three senior IPS officers including one from Telangana are in the race for the post of the Director of the prestigious Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA), the national institute for training of Indian Police Service officers, based in Hyderabad.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), which has the Prime Minister as its chairman, is likely to meet this month and appoint one of the three to the prestigious post.
Top sources told Deccan Chronicle that the IPS officers — N.R.K. Reddy of the 1986 batch (Rajasthan cadre), A. Hemachandran, also of the 1986 batch (Kerala cadre) and Santosh Mehra of the 1987 batch (Telangana cadre) — are the top contenders for the post.
The term of the Director of NPA, D.R. Doley Barman, also of the 1986 batch, came to an end on March 29 this year.
While N.R.K. Reddy is presently posted as Special DG (Law and Order) in Rajasthan, A. Hemachandran is DG, Kerala Fire and Rescue Services, and Santosh Mehra is presently the director of the Telangana State Police Academy (TSPA).
Sources said that though all three are strong contenders for the post, the contest has now narrowed down to N.R.K. Reddy and Santosh Mehra.
While Mr Reddy previously had a stint in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and was based in Hyderabad, Mr Mehra had served in the Border Security Force.
All three IPS officers have earned the reputation of institution builders and have impeccable track record.
A 1986 batch IPS officer of the Jammu & Kashmir cadre, Doley Barman had replaced Aruna M Bahuguna, an Andhra Pradesh (united) cadre IPS officer as director of the Academy in February 2017. Barman’s appointment was done by temporarily downgrading the post to the rank of Additional DGP for a period of two years or until further orders. She held several important posts in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and also in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Both N.R.K. Reddy and A Hemachandran are DG rank officers while Santosh Mehra is an Additional DGP rank officer.
While IPS officers in the 1987 batch have been promoted to the rank of DGs, it is only in Telangana that the officers have not been promoted to the rank of DGs.
Presently, a Telangana state cadre IPS officer, Umesh Sharraf, is the in-charge Director of the NPA. Mr Sharraf has been in the NPA since January 2015.
