Centre appoints Kerala cadre IPS officer Nitin Agarwal as new DG BSF

New Delhi, June 12

The Centre appointed Kerala cadre IPS officer Nitin Agarwal as the new Chief of the Border Security Force (BSF). The post was lying vacant for five months post the retirement of Pankaj Kumar Singh in December 2022.

The Centre had handed over additional charge to CRPF DG Sujoy Lal Thaosen who was the acting DG of BSF since five months. 

The development came after a late-night order by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the Ministry Of Home Affairs proposal of appointing Nitin Agarwal as the new Director General of the BSF. 

The appointment of Nitin Agarwal came amid bi-annual four-day border talks between BSF and its Bangladeshi counterpart Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in Delhi. In the absence of a regular DG, Thaosen is heading the BSF delegation in the talks. 

The appointment order released late at night reads, "The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs for the appointment of Shri Nitin Agarwal, IPS, presently working as Additional DG, CRPF as Director General, Border Security Force (BSF) with pay at Level-16 of the Pay Matrix from the date of joining the post and up to 31.07.2026 i.e. date of his superannuation or till further orders whichever is earlier." This means Agarwal will retire as DG-BSF in 2026 if an extension is not granted

Nitin Agarwal is a 1989-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Kerala cadre. He is currently posted as the Additional Director General of Operations at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). He was promoted to the rank of ADG in 2014 while serving with the ITBP. According to his LinkedIn profile, Agarwal has done B-Tech (1983-1987) and M. Tech (1987-1989) from the IIT Delhi. He likes to play tennis. 

He has served in various capacities like IG Training at ITBP, IG Sashastra Seema Bal and ADG-Police with Kerala Police. He also served as an Assistant Engineer with the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers during the initial years of his career.

Agarwal is expected to take charge of the BSF after these talks end on June 14. It is the 53rd edition of the talks and the last such meeting was held in July last year when the BSF delegation travelled to Dhaka.