Centre likely to offer more CAPF posts to IPS officers
New Delhi: The Union home ministry is mulling a proposal to revive an old system of bringing on deputation Indian Police Service (IPS) officers in the CAPFs at commandant or senior SP rank, officials said. According to the current policy, IPS officers can join the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) like BSF, ITBP and CRPF at the rank of deputy inspector general (DIG), one rank higher than the commandant designation.
In CISF and SSB, IPS officers are working at the rank of commandant or senior superintendent of police (SSP).
BSF, ITBP and CRPF also used to have IPS officers coming in at commandant rank but the system got scrapped over the last few decades due to various reasons including the lack of a deputation pool, the officials said.
The latest move has been initiated by the country's largest frontier guarding paramilitary unit, the Border Security Force (BSF), as a measure to provide "bottom to top leadership" and ensure complete exposure for the IPS officers who largely head all the verticals of these forces, including the top post in the director general (DG) rank.
Earlier this month, the BSF headquarters sent a proposal to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) seeking "amendment in the recruitment rules of the CAPFs making provisions for deputation of IPS officers in the rank of Commandants in the CAPFs."
Officers of the CAPF cadre said they fear that their already delayed and stagnated promotions will get further jeopardised and they will be forced to take voluntary retirement if this proposal is accepted by the MHA. A senior BSF cadre officer said the proposal, once implemented, will lead to further litigation along with various other cases going on for years. These cases are linked to the prolonged delay in their promotions and grant of benefits to them as due to an organised officer cadre service.
Another officer said the DIG rank posts reserved for IPS officers are not being filled up completely for the last three decades. So, how will the commandant rank IPS vacancies be filled?
A senior IPS officer working in a CAPF said the proposal is expected to be circulated among all CAPFs so that a uniform deputation policy can be adopted.
Another IPS officer said keeping in mind the shortage of these all-India service officers in various states, about 10 per cent of commandant rank posts are expected to be reserved for them in the CAPFs.
"The MHA will finally decide the policy. But this in no way takes away promotion or career opportunities of cadre officers as there are many vacancies of commandant posts too," the second IPS officer said.
Besides IPS officers brought on deputation, the nearly 10-lakh personnel strong CAPFs directly recruit their officer cadres through an all-India exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.
