Naveen and Shujau vie for top police post

Ismail Naveen and Ali Shujau, who currently serve as assistant commissioner of police, have applied for the post of commissioner of police.

The deadline for the vacancy expired at Tuesday noon.

A spokesperson from the Home Ministry told Sun that only Naveen and Shujau had applied by the deadline.

Their names have been set to the Police Board for vetting.

Former police commissioner Mohamed Hameed had retired from the police force on November 15. Then-deputy commissioner Abdul Mannan Yoosuf had been appointed as acting commissioner following Hameed’s retirement. But Mannan himself retired a little over a week later, and was replaced by assistant commissioner Farhad Fikry.

The Police Act does not empower the president to directly appoint a police commissioner. Instead, the law dictates that applications must be opened for 90 days, for which police officials ranked assistant commissioner or above are applicable. The candidates will be vetted by the Police Board, after which the president will make the appointment under the advisement of the cabinet minister in charge.