: The Delhi High Court has directed the Union Government to carry out the cadre review exercise in the Border Security Force (BSF) and complete it in six months. It observed that there was an “extreme level of frustration” among the members of the force.
Disposing of two writ petitions on the subject, a Division Bench of the High Court said that the salient features of requirements of BSF would be duly considered by the committee appointed for the purpose.
The Bench, comprising Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Pratibha Rani, said in its 24-page judgment that the Government’s laxity has resulted in acute stagnation in promotions in the BSF. “The lack of cadre review in 25 years has resulted in no post creation at command levels (Commandant to Additional Director General level),” observed the Court.
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The Bench said the age profile of BSF officers at the level of Commandant should be lowered as the data showed that the officers were getting the rank of Commandant in the age bracket of 47 to 52 years.
“The span of control and responsibility of BSF Commanders has overstretched, is the claim of the petitioners,” said the judgment.
The Court also expressed concern over the incidents of suicidal and fratricidal deaths since 2010 and pointed out the trend indicated that there was a problem of proper administrative, logistic and behavioural support mechanism.
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The writ petitions were moved in the Court by the BSF officers in Group A service and in the ministerial cadre. Both the petitions pointed out that the cadre review had not been held for the last 25 years.