IG rank officer to head entire police set-up
*Few Admn Secys to look after all departments
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 28: Though Ladakh is the largest Parliamentary constituency in the country yet the Union Territory will have compact civil and police administration on the lines of Chandigarh Union Territory in view of the limited population. While police is likely to be headed by Inspector General of Police (IGP) rank officer, only few Administrative Secretaries will look after the affairs of all the departments.
As per the Lok Sabha record, Ladakh is the largest Parliamentary constituency in India in terms of area but total population of the region comprising of Leh and Kargil districts is over 2.70 lakh as per the 2011 census.
Keeping in view limited population, Ladakh, which is going to formally become Union Territory on October 31, 2019 as per the provisions of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act passed by the Parliament in the first week of August this year, will have compact civil as well as police administration set-up on the lines of the Union Territory of Chandigarh, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
In the Ladakh Union Territory, an Inspector General of Police (IGP) rank officer will head the entire police set-up and all the wings of the Ladakh Police like Crime, Traffic, Armed, Security and Law and Order will be under him. “The heads of these wings will directly correspond with IGP, who will report to the Lt Governor through his Administrator, sources disclosed, adding “the possibility of appointment of one Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) cannot be ruled out”.
“Since both the districts have full-fledged police set-up headed by respective Senior Superintendents of Police not much efforts are required to be made to ensure smooth functioning of the Ladakh Police following formal establishment of Union Territory”, they said, adding “adequate number of police personnel have already been transferred to Ladakh during the past one month while as personnel required for wings other than law and order will be deployed in the shortest possible time”.
In response to a question, sources said, “Union Ministry of Home Affairs is on the job to finalize the name of Indian Police Service (IPS) officer to be deputed as head of the police in the Ladakh Union Territory”, adding “the head may be selected from the J&K cadre of IPS officers or from the cadre separately created for the Union Territories by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs”.
They further disclosed that even there will be limited number of Administrative Secretaries on the lines of the Chandigarh Union Territory to look after the affairs of the civil departments. “This is because administration of only two districts is required. Moreover, keeping one Administrative Secretary for one department would amount to putting unnecessary burden on the exchequer of the Union Territory”, sources added.
It is pertinent to mention here that in Chandigarh Union Territory there are only four-five Secretaries in the administrative set-up under the Advisor to the Administrator and functioning of all the departments are being looked after by them. Moreover, there are only few Directors and Chief Executive Officers.
“By following the administrative set-up of Chandigarh Union Territory functioning of Ladakh UT can be easily and smoothly managed”, sources said, adding “names of IAS officers who actually belong to Ladakh but serving in other parts of the country are being considered for posting in Union Territory of Ladakh”.
They further said, “the Administrative Secretaries in Ladakh UT can also be posted from the separate cadre of IAS officers for the Union Territories in the country called—AGMUT”, adding “orders vis-a-vis posting of Administrative Secretaries and IGP are likely to be issued within next few days”.
It is worthwhile to mention here that distribution of posts of large number of departments between Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh has already been completed by the General Administration Department and the exercise in respect of remaining departments will be completed within next few days.
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