Eleven IPS officers of 2018 batch, including a few from earlier batch who trained with them, who were allotted to Telangana cadre are a concerned lot as they have not been given postings even after joining the service of the State a year ago. Some of them are, however, attached to police sub-divisions in existing vacancies.
While their batchmates in Jammu and Kashmir have already become Superintendents of Police or those in other States and Union Territories are at least holding independent charge of sub-divisions and are set to be promoted to SP rank on January 1, 2022, the Telangana allottees are still attached to police commissionerates and district Superintendents of Police without any independent charge.
A senior police officer said that the structure of the cadre had become rigid and inflexible resulting in frustration for new recruits. Speaking to The Hindu, an officer waiting for posting shared his anguish and said it is totally demoralising to work without posting right at the beginning of their career by waiting for the very first posting, something that has to happen as a matter of routine. “Our service records also get skewed and this unfair treatment would result in long-term consequences in our career.” Another threat looming large over their heads is the move to confer IPS to non-cadre Superintendents of Police.
While the top bosses regularly harangue them on ‘role clarity’, “we are at a loss of words as we have neither a role to play nor clarity over what lies ahead of us,” another officer said.
A few months ago when the aggrieved officers knocked on the door of a key senior official to express their concern, they were shocked that they got a cold shoulder and an earful from that officer who also questioned them whether they took permission from their respective unit heads and had an appointment to meet him.
ASP posting is important in the career of any IPS officer as it helps them understand fieldwork and ground reality. “Next we will move to supervisory ranks, without a handful of field experience. How can we supervise the investigations and address the law and order issues that arise and other aspects of policing,” the officer said.
