Commissioner of Police (India)


Commissioners of Police in India are heads of the police force in certain metropolitan areas colloquially referred to as 'police commissionerates'.
They are traditionally members of the Indian Police Service with executive magisterial powers not granted to other senior police officers, evolving from the historical role of justice of the peace, assigned to commissioners leading the presidency towns of British India.
The rank and authority conferred upon commissioners of police is largely uniform throughout India in that they are all executive magistrates under the Code of Criminal Procedure, however varies in that a commissioner of police forces of larger cities tend to be equated to higher ranks in the Indian Police Service—three of India's four biggest cities are led by commissioners equated to the rank of director-general of police. The police commissioner of lowest rank in India is that of Thrissur City Police, which is led by a superintendent
Commissioners of police and their police forces are generally subordinate to and part of the police force of the state thereof, the only exceptions being Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The police forces of Mumbai and Kolkata are not part of the police force of their respective states; they report directly to their states' home ministers. As Delhi is a union territory with limited self-government, the commissioner does not report to the local government; it reports directly to the central minister of home affairs. All, except one, of the 20 largest cities in India have police forces headed by commissioners of police.
Commissioners of Police in Kerala do not have magisterial powers. The Government of Kerala appointed senior IGP-rank IPS officers as Commissioners of Police for Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi as an initial step towards a full police commissionerate system; however, the move faced opposition. Consequently, the state government has not granted magisterial powers to the commissioners due to political opposition, including from within the ruling coalition.

History and description

Traditionally at the district level, the Superintendent of Police or Senior SP maintains law and order by working with the District Magistrate. Under the Commissioners of Police system, the state governments may or may not grant certain powers of the executive magistrate to the commissioner, contrary to the Superintendent of Police or Senior SP of a police district who depends on the district magistrate. For large metropolitan cities, the CP system is generally considered more suitable policing system. The commissioner is assisted by special commissioner, joint commissioner, additional commissioner, deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner of police.
The Commissionerates present in New Delhi, Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, and Kolkata can be considered true Commissionerates as they exercise the powers of the District Magistrate and the Executive Magistrate. The organisational structure of the police commissionerates varies state to state. For instance, the Police Commissioners of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata report directly to the state government and not to the DGP. Similarly, in Kerala, the Commissioner of Police does not have magisterial powers.

Commissionerates

A Police Commissionerate's jurisdiction can consist of several adjoining districts. The Hyderabad City Police commissionerate since 1847 AD, established in the erstwhile Hyderabad State by the Nizams is the oldest police commissionerate in India. The British India government brought the CP system first to Kolkata and Chennai in 1856, and followed it in Mumbai in 1864.

Organisational structure

The police commissionerate is headed by a Commissioner of Police. The post of Commissioner of Police can be held by an IPS officer of the rank SP and above, depending upon the sanction provided by the respective state government. The commissioner of police is assisted by special, joint, additional, deputy, and assistant commissioners of police, sanctioned by the respective state government. The organisation consists units like law and order, crimes, administration, armed reserve police, traffic police, special branch, security, etc. For the maintenance of law and order, there are police zones, divisions and sub divisions. Typically divisions are headed by deputy commissioners of police, and sub divisions are headed by assistant commissioners of police.

Hierarchy

The hierarchy of posts in Police Commissionerate system of Delhi is as given below, Police Commissionerate system in other cities may not have one or more of these posts:-
The subordinate police officers' hierarchy in the Police Commissionerate system is the same as in a district police headed by a Senior SP/SP, including ranks such as police inspector, sub-inspector, assistant sub-inspector, head constable, and constable.

List of commissioners of police

Following is the list of commissioners of police in India, along with their respective ranks :-

[Andhra Pradesh Police]

PostRankReference
Commissioner of Police, VisakhapatnamAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, VijayawadaAdditional Director General of Police

[Assam Police]

[Chhattisgarh Police]

[Delhi Police]

PostRankReference
Commissioner of Police, DelhiDirector General of Police

[Gujarat Police]

PostRankReference
Commissioner of Police, AhmedabadAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, SuratAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, RajkotAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, VadodaraAdditional Director General of Police

[Haryana Police]

[Karnataka Police]

PostRankReference
Commissioner of Police, BengaluruAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, BelagaviDeputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, Hubballi-DharwadDeputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, KalaburagiDeputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, MangaluruDeputy [inspector general of police#India|Deputy Inspector General of Police]
Commissioner of Police, MysuruInspector General of Police

[Kerala Police]

Post RankReference
Commissioner of Police, ThiruvananthapuramInspector General of Police / Deputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, KochiInspector General of Police / Deputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, KozhikodeDeputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, Kollam CitySuperintendent of Police
Commissioner of Police, Thrissur CitySuperintendent of Police
Commissioner of Police, Kannur CitySuperintendent of Police

[Madhya Pradesh Police]

[Maharashtra Police]

PostRankReference
Commissioner of Police, MumbaiDirector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, PuneAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, NagpurAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, ThaneAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, Navi MumbaiAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, NashikAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, AurangabadInspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar Additional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, Pimpri-ChinchwadInspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, SolapurDeputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, AmravatiDeputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, Railways, MumbaiInspector General of Police

[Nagaland Police]

[Odisha Police]

PostRankReference
Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar-CuttackAdditional Director General of Police

Punjab Police">Punjab Police (India)">Punjab Police

[Rajasthan Police]

[Tamil Nadu Police]

PostRankReference
Commissioner of Police, ChennaiAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, CoimbatoreInspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, MaduraiInspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, SalemInspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, TiruppurInspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, TirunelveliInspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, TiruchirappalliInspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, AvadiAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, TambaramAdditional Director General of Police

[Telangana Police]

PostRankReference
Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad CityDirector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, CyberabadInspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, KarimnagarDeputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, NizamabadSuperintendent of Police
Commissioner of Police, KhammamSuperintendent of Police
Commissioner of Police, RachakondaAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, RamagundamDeputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, SiddipetSuperintendent of Police
Commissioner of Police, WarangalDeputy Inspector General of Police

[Uttar Pradesh Police]

PostRankReference
Lucknow Police#Commissioners of [Lucknow Police|Commissioner of Police], LucknowAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, KanpurAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, AgraInspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, Gautam Buddha NagarAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, GhaziabadInspector General of Police
Prayagraj Police CommissionerateInspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, VaranasiAdditional Director General of Police

[West Bengal Police]

PostRankReference
Commissioner of Police, Asansol-DurgapurDeputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, SiliguriDeputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, KolkataAdditional Director General of Police
Commissioner of Police, HowrahDeputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, ChandannagarDeputy Inspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, BidhannagarInspector General of Police
Commissioner of Police, BarrackporeInspector General of Police

States and UTs without CP

The following police forces in India do not have Police Commissionerate system:-

States

Among the 10 most populous states of India, only Bihar does not have CP system in any of its cities.

Union territories

Among the Indian cities having population above 1.5 million, the only city which does not have CP system is Patna.