Eight DIG posts vacant in Nepal Police, IGP’s batchmates compete

Kathmandu, November 10 — Eight posts of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in the Nepal Police are currently vacant. The vacancy arose after the Ministry of Home Affairs recommended the promotion of DIGs Buddhiraj Gurung and Kedar Dhakal to the rank of Additional Inspector General (AIG). The promotion committee recommended their elevation on October 30.

In the race for the vacant positions, senior officers who entered the police force alongside Inspector General (IGP) Basanta Bahadur Kunwar are competing for promotion. Bhola Bahadur Rawal, Dhruba Raj Raut, and Ganesh Chand all joined the police force on March 19, 1995 as inspectors, and they are now in the running for the position of DIG, while their batchmate is set to retire in four months as IGP.

Due to the tradition of promotions being based solely on the preference of the power center, even though these officers are at the top of the merit list, their promotions remain uncertain. If they are not promoted this time, they will retire as Senior Superintendents of Police (SSP). Bhola Bahadur Rawal and Dhruba Raj Raut were promoted to SSP on November 28, 2021.

Further down the merit list, Siddhi Bikram Shah is ranked fourth, Sushil Singh Rathore is fifth, and Uma Prasad Chaturvedi is sixth. They were promoted to SSP on July 17, 2022, after joining the National Investigation Department.

Other officers, including Himalaya Kumar Shrestha, Dambar Bahadur BK, and Om Bahadur Rana, who joined the department on December 20, 1996, and later transferred to the police, are ranked seventh, eighth, and ninth in the list.

SSPs who entered the police force on March 31, 1998, are also in the running for promotion to DIG.

Officers Ishwar Karki, Rajendra Prasad Bhatta, Dinesh Kumar Acharya, Arun Paudel, and Govinda Thapaliya from this batch are competing for the promotion. Other batchmates who joined the force alongside them, such as Dan Bahadur Karki, Dr. Manoj KC, and Raj Adhikari, have already been promoted to DIG. Karki and the others were promoted to DIG on March 27, 2024.

High-ranking police officers have criticized the previous Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane for weakening police morale by promoting officers who joined three years after those at the top of the promotion list.

Madhav Prasad Shrestha, who entered the National Investigation Department on December 20, 1996, and later transferred to theNepal Police, is also in the competition for promotion. In total, eight officers are being considered for the vacant DIG positions.

The Promotion Recommendation Committee for the DIG posts is chaired by the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, with the IGP and the AIG from the Human Resource Department of the Police Headquarters serving as members.