MUMBAI: High-profile IPS officer Rashmi Shukla is all set to take over the reins of the state police from the current Director General of Police (DGP) Rajnish Seth, who will soon take over as chairman of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission.

Currently, Shukla is on central deputation in the rank of DG.In the state, Shukla has held several key posts in the past, including as Pune police commissioner and director of the state intelligence wing.Shukla is the seniormost IPS officer in the state.Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said the state government has submitted a list to the Union ministry of home affairs as per levels of seniority.According to a high-ranking bureaucrat, Shukla is followed in terms of seniority by Maharashtra Police Housing and Welfare Corporation managing director Sandeep Bishnoi and Mumbai police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar.

While Shukla belongs to the 1988 batch, Bishnoi and Phansalkar belong to the 1989 batch.

Shukla will retire on June 30, 2024, Bishnoi on March 31, 2024 and Phansalkar on March 31, 2025.On October 4, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde appointed Rajnish Seth as chairman, MPSC.

However, he was then asked not to take over the new assignment and wait till a successor was appointed as DGP in his place.

Seth, an IPS officer of the 1988 batch, is scheduled to retire on December 31, 2023.The bureaucrat said that as per the norms prescribed by the ministry of home affairs, the state government must submit to it a panel of the seniormost IPS officers along with their service records for the last 10 years.

The home ministry makes a shortlist, from which the state government selects the new DGP.

The norms for appointment of DGP were recommended by SC in the Prakash Singh case.