Central forces officers rue losing promotions to IPS cadre

PIONEER 15TH MARCH 2010

Kumar Shakti Shekhar | New Delhi

The morale of the cadre officers of Central Para-military Forces (CPMFs), particularly CRPF and BSF, aspiring to become Additional Directors General (ADGs) has never been as low as it is now. Though promotional avenues for these officers vis-a-vis the IPS officers on deputation in these two forces have always been highly lop-sided, three recent orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) have dashed all hopes of them getting a better deal.

Taking note of the stagnation in Group 'A' posts of the CPMFs, the Sixth Central Pay Commission had observed that this issue would be properly addressed to only if a larger number of posts was reserved for their cadre officers and not the IPS officers or deputations, as they are called.

The Commission, therefore, recommended that "all posts up to the rank of DIG should henceforth be filled by promotion from amongst the officers of respective CPMFs. Fifty per cent of the posts in the grade of IG and above (Additional DG, Special DG and DG) should be allowed to be filled on promotion of eligible Cadre Officers".

However, the cadre officers feel that three "contradictory" letters of the MHA have taken away from them from left hand what were given to them from the right hand.

An MHA letter of November 11 last year, quoting Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), regarding filling up the post of ADG in CRPF and BSF, the largest of the CPMFs, said, "As regard the point raised about the roster of vacancies, it is clarified that while the existing one may continue, allocation of vacancies henceforth will be among the two methods of promotion and deputation. The first vacancy may go to promotion, the next two to deputation, the next to promotion, the next to deputation and so on."

Just a week after this letter, the MHA issued a corrigendum, saying, "The last sentence of Para 2 of this Ministry's UO referred to above may be read as under: The first vacancy may go to promotion, the next two to deputation, the next to promotion, the next two to deputation, and so on."

The cadre officers say according to the first order, they had got 50 per cent of the posts of ADG, as recommended by the Commission. A senior cadre officer alleged, "We are sure the IPS officers exerted pressure on the MHA and cut our share in the post of ADG from 50 per cent to 33 per cent."

However, the worst for the cadre officers came in the form of the third and latest order dated Dec 7, which reduced the share of the cadre officers for the post of ADG to 25 per cent.

The order says, "The matter regarding allocation of posts of ADG in CRPF and BSF to IPS and cadre officers has been reconsidered. It is clarified that prior to the creation of one additional post of ADG in BSF and CRPF, both Forces had three posts each of ADG, which were all filled up by deputation of IPS officers. The newly-created fourth post of ADG, approved by Cabinet in 2008 should be earmarked for being filled up by promotion from within the cadre….In view of above, it has been decided that while the newly-created fourth post of ADG in BSF and CRPF is filled up by promotion of cadre officers, the three posts of ADGs which existed prior to the creation of the new post continue to be filled up by deputationists."

Even for the posts IG and DIG, the cadre officers have a strong feeling that they are being discriminated against. There is a huge gap of about 14 years between the cadre and IPS officers. A cadre officer said, "A cadre officer who has put in over 37 years of service and was eligible to become an IG in 24 years of service is still a DIG whereas an IPS officer becomes an IG in just about 13 years of service."

The 9500-strong Group 'A' cadre officers rue that their problem is compounded by the fact that they cannot form any forum for redressal of their grievances as the IPS officers are at all the high echelons. "We do not even have an officer of Joint Secretary rank in MHA who can take up our issues with the Government. How can we motivate our forces when we ourselves are demoralised? We have but to grumble and feel suffocated without letting the Ministry know," another officer said.