The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Monday approved the commissionerate system of policing for state capital Lucknow and Noida. Depending on the success, the policing system may gradually be implemented in other districts as well.

© Sunil Ghosh/Hindustan Times via Getty Images Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath

Alok Singh, a 1995 batch IPS officer has been appointed as Noida's first Police Commissioner while Sujeet Pandey (1994 batch IPS officer) will helm the Lucknow's commissionerate.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who presided over the cabinet meeting, told reporters that the commissionerate will also have an SP-level woman officer to deal with cases of crimes related to women. There will also be a special officer to manage traffic.

The system gives more powers, including magisterial powers, to IPS officers of the Inspector General of Police (IG) rank posted as commissioners.

Last week, Gautam Buddh Nagar SSP Vaibhav Krishna was suspended for allegedly leaking details of a report that levels serious allegations, including bribery for postings, against top police officers of the state. The details of the report prepared by Krishna were made public after a purported video sex chat featuring him began doing the rounds.

A month before the video surfaced, a confidential report had been sent by Krishna to the offices of the Chief Minister and DGP, highlighting an alleged nexus between senior IPS officers and journalists to influence transfer postings, even cases and arrests in exchange for money.

Five IPS officers whom he had named in the confidential document, alleging their involvement in a racket, have been transferred — the government identified them as Sultanpur SP Himanshu Kumar, Rampur SP Ajay Pal Sharma, Banda SP Ganesh Prasad Saha, Ghaziabad SP Sudhir Kumar Singh and SSP STF Rajiv Narain Mishra. This was done to maintain sanctity of the inquiry ordered against them, officials said.

(With inputs from agencies)