Alok Kumar Verma will be new Delhi Police chief

Senior IPS officer Alok Kumar Verma will be the new Police Commissioner of Delhi, succeeding B S Bassi who retires on February 29.

Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on Thursday issued an order appointing 58-year-old Verma, a 1979-batch Union Territory cadre officer, as the top police officer of the national capital. Verma is currently serving as DG of Tihar prison.

"Alok Kumar Verma will assume office as Police Commissioner, Delhi, on retirement of Bhim Sain Bassi on February 29, 2016," the LG's office said in a statement. He will have a tenure of 17 months.

An official said that the order was issued by the Delhi Home Department in the name of the Lt Governor in pursuance of the order of the Union Home Ministry dated February 17.

Verma will take charge at a time when the Delhi Police is facing severe criticism for its handling of the JNU row arising out of the arrest of the university's students union president Kanhaiya Kumar for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at an event commemorating the death of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Bassi has also received flak due to police inaction against those who had indulged in violence in Patiala House court.

Verma will head the 80,000-strong Delhi Police which is responsible for maintaining law and order in a city that has a population of more than 1.7 crore.

The new Police Commissioner will also have to deal with the Arvind Kejriwal government with which Bassi has had an uneasy relationship ever since AAP came to power a year ago.