Tamil Nadu Restarts Process To Appoint Permanent DGP After Supreme Court Order

The Tamil Nadu government has resumed the procedure for appointing a permanent Director-General of Police. This follows a Supreme Court order requiring the process to be completed within a three-week timeframe.

Senior officials are now preparing a fresh panel of eligible officers. This panel will be submitted to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for empanelment.

Officials are drawing up a new list of eligible DGP-rank officers. The UPSC will then shortlist three candidates from this list for the State to select one officer as DGP/HoPF.

According to the framework set by the landmark Prakash Singh judgement, the selected officer is guaranteed a minimum tenure of two years. This tenure applies irrespective of the officer’s retirement age.

The State is expected to forward its panel within the coming week. After that, the UPSC will have a fortnight to finalise the shortlist.

Seema Agrawal, Rajeev Kumar, and Sandeep Rai Rathore remain the primary contenders, having been shortlisted previously in October 2025.

At that time, the State did not appoint anyone and allowed G Venkatraman to continue as DGP (in charge).

Other senior officers under consideration include K Vanniaperumal, Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, Vinit Dev Wankhede, Sanjay Mathur, S Davidson Devasirvatham, Sandeep Mittal, and Bala Naga Devi.

The State has confirmed that it will follow the UPSC’s Single Window System while finalising the panel.

Eligibility, including minimum residual service requirements, is being calculated from the vacancy date of 1 September 2025 to ensure all qualified officers remain under consideration.

The renewed process demonstrates Tamil Nadu’s commitment to judicial compliance and strengthening the leadership of its police force.

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