The race for the post of Tamil Nadu Director-General of Police is at the final phase after the Union government body had shortlisted the names to head the state's law enforcement. We can expect that the state government can unfold the final name from these three IPS officers as the new Tamil Nadu DGP anytime from now. 

The race has drawn major significance across the state and there were nearly a dozen IPS officers on the track and now the race is trimmed with the final three contenders. According to reports, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has shortlisted three names for the Tamil Nadu DGP post and forwarded the list to the state government to select the one from the three and make an appointment. 

The final three names are - C Sylendra Babu IPS, Karan Singha IPS (both of them are 1987 batch officers), and Sanjay Arora IPS from the 1988 batch. The ball is now on MK Stalin's court and reports close to the developments say that the state government would most likely pick Sylendra Babu's name as the new Tamil Nadu DGP as he is more prominent in the state's law enforcement circle and he is the senior-most IPS officer in the state. 

The incumbent DGP JK Tripathy is scheduled to retire on June 30 and as the state is just hours ahead to mark his retirement, the state government will most likely announce Tripathy's successor by Tuesday evening or on Wednesday morning post which there would be a ceremonial transition between the outgoing and incoming Directors-General of Police. The DGP, who will head the law and order of the Tamil Nadu police, will be the Chief Executive of the state law enforcement agency. 

UPSC has met on Monday - June 28 to select the final shortlisted names for the DGP post. Earlier, scores of DGP rank officers of the Tamil Nadu cadre compiled from the 1987 to 1989 IPS batches were sent to the UPSC for shortlisting. The reports had said that with the list of officers received from the state government, the UPSC will shortlist three to five names to be considered for the post of the DGP and the concerned state government can pick one officer from the final list of three or five officers finalized by the UPSC. 

Currently, C. Sylendra Babu is the senior most IPS officer in the state. Babu is a familiar name in Tamil Nadu as apart from his service in the police department, he has also been close to the young generation and motivating them in their careers. He has held several high-profile posts and he is the 1987 batch IPS officer. Sylendra Babu is currently serving as the DGP of the Railways. Karan Singha is the second senior-most IPS officer in the state and he is also from the same 1987 batch.

Apart from them, the IPS officers Sanjay Arora, Shankar Jiwal (current Chennai police commissioner), AK Viswanathan (former Chennai police commissioner), Abash Kumar, TK Ravichandran, Seema Agarwal, Amaresh Pujari, M. Ravi, Karuna Sagar, and Jayanth Murali were on the race. The race is in the final phase with the three officers on the track and whoever wins the race would be assuming the highest law enforcement office in the state.