A full month after the last Director General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) -- country's frontline security force along the Chinese border -- retired, the Union Home Ministry has not been able to post a new chief for the paramilitary.
Sources said the Ministry is still looking for a "suitable" officer to be appointed to the post.
A host of eligible names including that of CISF Special DG R R Verma and Maharashtra DGP Sanjeev Dayal are in the selection panel that is to be sent to the Appointments Committee of Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister, for final approval.
In the absence of a regular chief for the about 65,000 personnel strong mountain-trained paramilitary force, the day-to-day affairs of the force are being dealt by Additional Director General (ADG) Mahboob Alam.
"There never has been a precedent in the 51-year history of the force when the DG post remained vacant for over a month. While the work goes on, many important policy matters suffer in the absence of a regular head," a senior official said.
The last DG, Ajay Chadha had retired on August 30.
The ITBP guards the 3,488 km long Sino-Indian frontier and the brave role of its troopers was highlighted recently when they rendered relief and rescue duties in the aftermath of the Uttarakhand floods and rains.
Fifteen of its personnel were also killed in a chopper crash during the same operations in the rain ravaged state.
The force, apart from border guarding duties, is deployed for a variety of duties in anti-Naxal operations theatre, VIP security and other internal security tasks.
