Dark horses pip seniors

Ranchi, Sept. 11: The cabinet today paved the way for creation of two new districts in the state and directed a midnight notification to be issued to this effect.

Creation of Ramgarh and Khunti as districts has taken the total number of districts in the state to 24.

But the government sprung yet another surprise today by posting Homkar Amol Venukant and Prabhat Kumar as the first superintendent of police in Ramgarh and Khunti, respectively.

Homkar was posted as subdivisional police officer at Kiriburu while Kumar was the additional superintendent of police Hatia. The appointment of relatively younger officers set to rest speculation that more senior and some discredited IPS officers were in the race for the post at Ramgarh, perceived to be lucrative in view of the coal and steel industries there.

Director (higher secondary education) Arun Kumar Sinha and special secretary (finance) S.S. Meena have been appointed the first deputy commissioner of Ramgarh and Khunti, respectively.

Primary education director Vandana Dadel has been given additional charge of secondary education. Curiously, Dadel is on leave to protest the “failure” of the government to appoint her a deputy commissioner in an important enough district. Home secretary Sudhir Tripathy claimed that the names of the two new SPs were recommended by the Police Establishment Board headed by director-general ofpolice Vishnu Dayal Ram.

The cabinet also approved Rs 13.13 crore as recurring expenses for the police establishment in the two new districts. In addition, Rs 1.13 crore was sanctioned for the purchase of new police vehicles.

Jharkhand High Court today refused to interfere with the decision of the state government to grant district status to Ramgarh. While the petition challenging the notification of Khunti as district was not taken up today, lawyers felt the petition would become infructuous after the midnight notification.

Advocate-general S.B. Gadodia submitted before the high court today that the government had taken the decision to form the two districts in 2005. Approval of the Delimitation Commission as well as the high court were received last month, he added.