On Thursday - June 29, the Tamil Nadu state government has dotted up the debate over the new commanders of the government mechanism both at the bureaucratic and law enforcement levels as the popular faces of the government - Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu IAS and Director-General of Police C Sylendra Babu IPS are all set to retire from their services. 

With a handful of contenders for the both powerful posts, the final winners had reflected what had been predicted across the state. As per the predictions, Shiv Das Meena IAS has been appointed as the next Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu. The official announcement was made on Thursday and hours after Meena's appointment, the government has also announced the successor for Sylendra Babu as the state's new Director-General of Police (DGP). 

As what has been predicted, Shankar Jiwal IPS, the current Commissioner of Police, Chennai, has been appointed as the new DGP of Tamil Nadu. Jiwal will now be the Head of Police Force in Tamil Nadu. Jiwal is a 1990-batch IPS officer who worked in various disciplines in the law enforcement agency for the past three decades. Jiwal had served several crucial posts including the South Zonal Director of Narcotics Control Bureau and the Inspector-General of Police of Internal Security. 

A native of Uttarakhand, Shankar Jiwal was appointed as the Chennai Police Commissioner soon after DMK came to power in 2021 and as the MK Stalin administration has stepped into its third year, Jiwal has now been elevated as the DGP and Head of Police Force in Tamil Nadu. He will hold the office for a period of two years and his new leadership would be pushed to deal with the public outcry against the Tamil Nadu police from inhumane treatments of the undertrials to custodial deaths. 

Notably, Shankar Jiwal was conferred with the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2019. He is known for being instrumental in enhancing the crime intelligence unit and equipping the state inteliigence machinery with advanced surveillance apparatus. Shankar Jiwal was among the top three contenders for the DGP post and the other two were Sanjay Arora, the current Delhi Police Commissioner, and BK Ravi, the current DGP of the Fire and Rescue Services in Tamil Nadu. 

Shankar Jiwal has finally won the race and will assume office as Tamil Nadu's DGP on Friday - June 30. While Jiwal has been elevated as the DGP, Sandeep Rai Rathore has been appointed as the next Commissioner of Chennal Police, succeeding Jiwal. Rathore is a 1992-batch IPS officer and he had been serving as the DGP, Training at the Police Training College and he is the first Police Commissioner of Avadi when the city was trifurcated from the Greater Chennai Police. 

Earlier, Rathore had served in the Chennai Police as a Joint Commissioner and in 2007, he had conducted the 150th year celebration of establishment of Chennai Police. Rathore has earned stupendous accolades including the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service, 2015, President's Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2008 and the United Nations Peacekeeping Medal in 2002. On the other hand, it has been speculated that the outgoing DGP Sylendra Babu will become the chief of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC).