New Delhi: A cadre officer of the Himalayan border-guarding force ITBP, Sanjeev Raina, has been appointed additional director general (ADG) of the India-China Line of Actual Control (LAC) guarding force. This is only the second time that a non-IPS officer has been elevated to this post in the ITBP.
Earlier, in December 2020, Manoj Singh Rawat, a 1986-batch cadre officer, was the first to be empanelled and appointed as ADG of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
The Union home ministry, in its order on Wednesday, announced that Raina, a 1987-batch ITBP officer currently serving as an inspector general at the force's Central Sector headquartered in Bhopal, is being elevated to the ADG rank along with another officer, IG Jaspal Singh, for the panel year 2024.
The rank-piping ceremony was held at the ITBP headquarters in Delhi on Thursday in the presence of DG Rahul Rasgotra and other senior officers.
Raina has now been posted as the ADG of the Western Command, headquartered in Chandigarh. This command oversees the deployment of the force along the LAC in Ladakh, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh, and supervises units in Punjab, Delhi, and Jammu and Kashmir.
ITBP officials noted that this is only the second time since the force's inception in 1962 that a cadre officer has been promoted to the ADG post, the second-highest rank in the force after the DG.
In December 2020, Manoj Singh Rawat was the first cadre officer to be promoted to the position of Additional Director General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
The ADG position in the ITBP and other central armed police forces is typically held by officers who come on deputation from the Indian Police Service.
"This appointment was delayed due to the postponement of the departmental promotion committee meeting. IG Jaspal Singh will be appointed ADG after Raina's retirement, and he too will retire in December," a senior officer said.
Raina, a native of Kashmir, joined the ITBP in November 1987 and has served in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, and the Northeast. He is credited with establishing the renowned Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare (CIJW) school of the mountain-warfare trained force in Mahidanda, Uttarakhand.
In addition to guarding the LAC, the ITBP, with a strength of about 98,000 personnel, is deployed for various internal security duties across the country, including anti-Naxal operations.
