Senior IPS officer Kumar Rajesh Chandra has been appointed as chief of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the aviation security wing of the government, over three years after the post fell vacant.
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the name of Chandra, a 1985 batch IPS officer of Bihar cadre, for appointment to the post of Director General (formerly known as Commissioner of Security (Civil Aviation) in the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training said.
- He has been appointed in place of IPS officer G S Malhi, who had completed his tenure as BCAS chief in November 2012. The crucial post was lying vacant since then.
- Chandra is currently working as Additional Director General (Modernisation), Bihar Police.
About BCAS
- BCAS, which acts as regulatory authority for civil aviation security, was initially set up as a cell in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in January 1978.
- It was reorganised into an independent department on April 1, 1987 under the Ministry of Civil Aviation after the Kanishka tragedy in June 1985, in which 329 people died.
- The main responsibility of BCAS is to lay down standards and measures in respect of security of civil flights at international and domestic airports in India.
