New Delhi: A report dated, October 27, on the status of utilisation of Central Deputation Reserve (CDR) in respect of IPS officers reveals that BJP ruled states are among the worst performers in contributing to CDR .
CDR determines the extent to which the number of officers could be sent on deputation to the central government.
The Modi government has time and again mentioned, including on the floor of the house, about state governments “not sponsoring adequate numbers of officers for central deputation”.
Accordingly the centre had proposed an amendment to the All India Service Act saying the officer, whom the centre wants on deputation, would “stand relieved” from the respective cadre even if the state government concerned disagrees.
The proposal had sparked controversy when released with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lodging her protest with the central government.
“State Governments have not been sponsoring adequate numbers of officers for central deputation. In order to address the above issue, comments have been sought from states/UTs, in terms of the provisions contained in Section 3 of All India Services Act, 1951 on a proposal to amend Rule 6(1) of IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954,” said Jitendra Singh , Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on 10 February.
Who are the defaulters?
According to the report, accessed by The Print, West Bengal, Haryana, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh have the lowest numbers in CDR utilisation.Two of these four states are ruled by the BJP.
The All India Service Act, 1951 mandates that the CDR is 40 per cent of the senior duty posts in the state. Senior duty posts are the positions of senior officers in the rank of superintendent of police and above in the IPS.
Officers out of this reserve are posted in various positions across agencies and departments under the central government to run the central police organisations.
West Bengal has the worst contribution to the CDR. It has a sanctioned strength of 347 IPS officers, of which the state has 292 officers in position and 188 officers in senior duty posts.
As the CDR rule demands, Bengal needs to send 75 officers on deputation, but it has sent only 11. They have only filled 14.67 per cent of the required 40 per cent.
The Print has reached out to Bengal’s Home secretary B P Gopalika who said that he has only been serving in the position for a year and will have to check the figures before commenting. The report will be updated once a response is received.
Following Bengal is Haryana, a BJP ruled state, which contributed 16.13 per cent to the reserve. It has 79 officers in senior duty and has sent five officers to centre against the required number of 31.
Telangana (20 per cent) ranks third with 75 officers in senior duty post, and has six officers on deputation against the required 30.
UP, ranking fourth, has the largest state cadre (541) with the highest number of officers in senior duty posts in the country (293) but has sent the lowest number of officers on deputation.
The state has a sanctioned strength of 541 IPS officers, of which 447 are in position.
According to the CDR rule, UP needs to send at least 117 officers to the centre, but only 35 from UP cadre are on deputation. The BJP-ruled state’s contribution stands at 29.91 per cent.
ThePrint has reached out to Sanjay Prasad, Home Secretary of Uttar Pradesh and this report will be updated when his response is received.
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Opposition states better in CDR contribution
States ruled by non-BJP partieshave contributed more than the required central reserve percentage.
Jharkhand tops the list with 71 per cent, almost double the required contribution, followed by Tamil Nadu (55 per cent), Kerala (54 per cent), Odisha (52 per cent), Rajasthan (49.92 per cent) and Bihar (48 per cent).
Talking to ThePrint, N. Ramachandran, a former Director General of Police (DGP) and the President of the India Police Foundation (IPF), a policing and law enforcement think-tank said, “The number deficit for CDR is not about ruling or Opposition-ruled states. It is more about the centre-state relationship, the culture, and the personal preferences of individual officers. Even though there are some states that are averse to the idea of sending officers on central deputation, there are a larger number of cases of individual officers unwilling to serve at the centre. Some officers are even scared of coming out of their comfort zone.”
Vacancies in central police organisations
An ‘offer list’, available with the MHA, lists the IPS officers, who have been allowed by the state to serve on central deputation.
“At any point of time, the ‘offer list’ for central deputation does not consist of more than 15 officers as it has been seen in the past ten months,” said a senior IPS officer serving in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
According to the ‘offer list’, updated on 3 October, there are only 12 IPS officers available.
The vacancies for the senior positions across central organisations appear to be glaring, added the senior officer.
According to the vacancy positions across central forces and central police organisations, updated on 3 October on the MHA website, the centre has 29 positions for Inspector General (IG) vacant against the sanctioned 139 positions.
The maximum number of vacancies are there in the ranks of Deputy Inspector Generals (DIG) and Superintendent of Police (SPs). Of 253 sanctioned positions for DIG, the centre has 94 positions lying vacant, while of 214 sanctioned positions for the SPs, there are 127 vacancies.
Talking to The Print, a senior source in the MHA said, “These figures clearly show as to why the government wants to amend the cadre rule. The proposal was brought in January. Once the amendment is implemented, the state government cannot hold the officers back, and the centre will be able to bring officers on deputation. The government has received suggestions and objections from over a dozen states to the proposed amendment. But to run the government properly, it will implement the amendment soon.”
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)
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