Surat Police Commissioner Shivanand Jha is a busy man with too many work profiles to handle. After the ouster of Deepak Swarup as Surat police chief, Jha has been holding the fort, apart from handling his other profile of Surat Range IG and another as a member of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT). Now, the state government has put another responsibility on his shoulders: this time as a governing body member in the country’s first forensic science university in Gandhinagar.

When Newsline spoke to Jha about his latest appointment, he expressed the hope that he would shoulder the responsibility well. “It is a matter of pride that the government has

reposed faith in me. I have been given all these responsibilities as the government has faith in my style of work and commitment to duty,” he said.

Along with Jha, state Home Secretary T S Bisht and Hasmukh Adhia, Principal Secretary, Education, Gujarat, have been appointed to the university.

Given his two profiles as Surat police commissioner and range IG, Jha spends half of the day in the commissioner’s office and rest of the day in the IG office. As an SIT member, he also has to shuttle between Surat and Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar often. So, how does he manage his jobs? “It is difficult to do full justice to all my responsibilities, but I am trying my level best. Most importantly, I work on time management, which is how I can give my best to work,” Jha said. Ironically, Jha also figures in the list of accused in Zakia Jafri’s petition seeking probe against Narendra Modi and 62 others, which is being investigated by the SIT. The SIT has refused to comment so far how Jha could be allowed to be an investigating officer when he has been named as an accused.

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