R C Tayal, senior IPS officer today took over as the new Director General of the elite counter-terror force National Security Guard (NSG).
Tayal, a 1980-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre officer was accorded a guard of honour before he took charge at the ‘black cat’ commandos’ headquarters in Delhi.
Till now, Tayal was serving as the Special Director General in paramilitary CRPF and was heading its formation in Jammu and Kashmir.
He is expected to serve in the top post till August next year when he is scheduled for superannuation.
The post of the Director General (NSG) was vacant after incumbent chief J N Choudhury retired on May 31, this year.
Tayal, a native of Haryana has earlier served as an Additional DG in the Sashastra Seema Bal during his stint at the centre, apart from postings in his cadre in Assam.
The National Security Guard (NSG) is a security force of India constituted “for combating terrorist activities with a view to protect States against internal disturbances”. The force does not constitute under collective nomenclature such as Central Armed Police Forces or Paramilitary Forces of India.
The force is a unique combination of personnel on deputation from Indian Army and Central Armed Police Forces, hence it is referred as NSG itself or Black Cats.The personnel of NSG are known as Black Cats because of the black dress and black cat signage worn on its uniform. The two components of NSG are the Special Action Group (SAG), which consists entirely of Indian Army personnel; and the Special Ranger Groups (SRG), which comprises personnel drawn from Central Armed Police Forces and State Police Forces.