The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has shot off a letter to 24 States that sufficient number of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers have not been nominated by the State governments for central deputation leading to many vacant posts in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs).
The letter was sent to all States, except Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, and the eight Union Territories.
“It is to reiterate that your State/Cadre has not sent/recommended sufficient nominations of IPS officers for deputation for filling up the vacancies at different levels especially from Superintendent of Police to Inspector General in Central Police Organisations (CPOs) and CAPFs. Accordingly, it is request you to forward sufficient nominations of IPS officers especially at the level of SP to IG at the earliest to enable this Ministry to fill up the vacant posts earmarked for IPS officers at Centre,” the June 7 letter stated.
As on June 3, there were 129 vacancies at Superintendent of Police (SP) level, 81 vacancies for Deputy Inspector General (DIG) rank police officers, and 25 vacancies at the Inspector General (IG) level against the sanctioned strength of 129, 256, and 147 such posts, respectively.
The communication follows the letter of December 14, 2023 sent to all States to nominate adequate number of IPS officers for central deputation.
The 2023 letter by Additional Secretary R.K. Singh stated that 40% of senior duty posts in each cadre are earmarked as Central Deputation Reserve (CDR) posts. “The CDR of each IPS cadre determines the extent to which the number of officers could be sent on deputation to Government of India. However, it has been the experience that the offer lists of some States do not contain sufficient number of names vis-a-vis CDR utilisation. Hence, States need to sponsor adequate number of officers so that posts reserved for IPS officers in CAPFs, CPOs are manned by them,” the 2023 letter said.
The MHA routinely asks States to send IPS officers on central deputation.
IPS officers are recruited by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on behalf of the Centre, and their services are placed under various State cadres.
In February 2022, the MHA amended the IPS tenure policy, doing away with the mandatory requirement of empanelment of IPS officers at the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) level. It said that “officers with minimum 14-years of experience will be eligible for appointment at the level of DIG by the Centre”.
Officers are assessed if they are suitable for central deputation by the Central Police Establishment Board (CPEB) headed by the Union Home Secretary. The names of officers up to the Inspector General of Police level are then sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by the Prime Minister, for approval.
Published - June 11, 2024 10:54 pm IST
