Centre Grants One Year Extension Each To IB Chief Tapan Kumar Deka, NHRC head Bharat Lal

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by PM Narendra Modi has approved the extension in service of Deka -- a 1988 batch IPS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre --  as the Director, Intelligence Bureau, for a period of one year beyond June 30, 2024, a government order said.

In a separate order, the government also announced a similar extension for Lal as chief of NHRC in the rank and pay of a secretary. Lal is a retired Gujarat cadre officer of the Indian Forest Service. He was the founder Mission Director of ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’, a flagship programme of the Union government launched in August, 2019 to ensure clean tap water to every household and public institutions of the country. 

In June 2022, Deka was appointed as the chief of the domestic spy agency IB for two years after the tenure of incumbent Intelligence Bureau Director Arvind Kumar ended on June 30, 2022.

Deka has spent most of his career in the Intelligence Bureau. He was an additional director in Intelligence Bureau when he was promoted to the rank of special director in the wing in June 2021. He has handled crucial cases like terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, especially targeted killings in the Valley.