Himachal Pradesh may appoint Shyam Bhagat Negi as police chief on repatriation

Shimla: The central govt has repatriated 1990-batch, Himachal Pradesh-cadre IPS officer Shyam Bhagat Negi to his parent cadre. As he is its senior-most IPS officer, the state govt is likely to appoint Negi as the head of the state police force.Serving as the special secretary in the cabinet secretariat at present, Negi's repatriation to the parent cadre was approved by the appointments committee of the cabinet on Tuesday "on personal grounds". Negi, who hails from Kinnaur district, is due to superannuate on March 31, 2026. He has been on central deputation since May 23, 2022.The previous head of the Himachal police force, 1991-batch officer Dr Atul Verma, superannuated on May 31. Four days ahead of his retirement, the state govt had sent Verma on forced leave following issues within the police force after the high court transferred the probe of the state power corporation chief engineer Vimal Negi's mysterious death case to the CBI.The state govt assigned the additional charge of the top post to the director general of the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau, Ashok Tiwari. A 1993-batch officer, Tiwari is also in the race for the top post. His batchmate, Anurag Garg, serves as the director general of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). Another batchmate, Rithwik Rudra, is also on central deputation. The next officer in the seniority list, 1994-batch officer Rakesh Aggarwal, is also on central deputation. He has also expressed willingness to return to the hill state.The Himachal Pradesh govt had prepared a panel of three IPS officers in May — Negi, Tiwari, and Aggarwal — for the state police chief. Negi has already held a meeting earlier with chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in Delhi, which had fueled speculation of Negi's return to the parent cadre.