Bihar DGP SK Singhal gets extension till December 2022

Bihar's Director-General of PoliceSK Singhal will continue in his post till December 2022, morethan a year after attaining the age of superannuation, as pera notification issued by the state Home Department.

Singhal, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was scheduled toretire in August this year.

The notification, issued on Monday, invoked a SupremeCourt judgement of July, 2018 that lays down the conditions inwhich a DGP could be given an extension of term beyond thedate of superannuation for ''a reasonable period''.

Singhal was initially appointed to the top post as astop-gap arrangement after his predecessor Gupteshwar Pandeytook VRS and joined politics a few months ago.

He was made full-time DGP after Chief Minister NitishKumar returned for yet another term in office.

Singhal hails from Punjab and has been on assignmentssuch as the Additional Director-General (Police Headquarters).

Recently, he was accused of not answering phone callsof journalists who wanted to share information relating to ahigh-profile murder case.

The chief minister snubbed the journalists making theaccusations, but followed it up with a phone call to Singhalwith instructions that he remains more accessible.