UP DGP set to retire in June, refuses extension
Friday | May 16 2025 | 03:47:47 PM
Friday | May 16 2025 | 03:47:47 PM
New Delhi, June 19
UP DGP HC Awasthi has written to UP Government refusing to accept extension of his retirement this month. DG Awasthi is det to retire from the post UP DGP on June 30.
DG Hitesh Chandra Awasthi is a 1985 batch IPS officer who was appointed as DGP UP in March 2020.
According to the sources, the UP Government had sent a panel of officers to UPSC for the appointment of new DGP however the UPSC citing the Supreme Court order had sent the panel back to UP Government. The SC had passed an order earlier that appintment of a DGP of a state should be for a term of two years.
As per the procedure, the panel of names for new DGP is sent to UPSC three months before the current DG's retirement. The UPSC told the UP Government to send names in October as Awasthi's two year term ends in January 2022.
DG Awasthi's two year term gets over in January 2022 however as per his service, he retires in June this year. Hence, the UP Government reportedly requested him to continue his services till January 2022 to which Awasthi has refused.
The sources added that there have been underlying disagreements between the UP Government and DGP Awasthi since few months. However, no official authorities agreed to comment on this.
DG Awasthi, the senior most IPS officer in UP, served in CBI for 12 years. He was promoted to DG rank in 2016 and has also served in the home guard, telecom, Economic Offence Wing (EOW) and anti-corruption department.
DG Awasthi's tenure as DGP UP has been full of high profile cases from Hathras victim's overnight cremation to floating of dead bodies in Ganga during the second wave of the pandemic. In one of his letters to the state police, DG Awasthi had written to his officers that the crimes in UP over the string of mass murders and kidnappings.
There are five senior officers in UP Police who are being looked at as the top contenders of the DGP's post- DG EOW and SIT, RP Singh, DG Recruitment RK Vishwakarma, DG Intelligence Devendra Singh Chauhan, DG Jails Anand Kumar and ADG BSF Mukul Goyal.
