New Delhi: In what is being seen as a partial implementation of the Supreme Court order granting better pay benefits to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), the home ministry has decided to grant promotional benefits to just one rank of officers in the forces — directors or deputy secretaries.
This has led to widespread resentment among cadre officers of the CAPFs.
According to an office memorandum of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) dated 17 September, the director generals of the CRPF, BSF, ITPB and CISF have been asked to send proposals “for amending rules for incorporation of appropriate provisions, for grant of NFSG (Non-Functional Selection Grade), which will fall due in future”.
ThePrint approached home ministry spokesperson Vasudha Gupta for a comment via calls and messages, but there was no response till the time of publication. This report will be updated when she responds.
What is NFSG?
Under NFSG, once officers from a certain batch complete 13 years in service, and cannot be promoted due to fewer posts, 30 per cent of them are given non-functional promotion. This means while their work remains the same, technically, they have a higher rank and pay.
While the home ministry order, accessed by ThePrint, instructs the CAPFs to amend the rules to grant NFSG, it remains silent over the more controversial issue of Non-Functional Financial Upgradation (NFFU).
Also read: Relax rules for CAPF officers and give them pay parity with IPS, DoPT tells home ministry
Contempt of Supreme Court?
A senior CRPF officer, who did not wish to be named, said the government could soon be in contempt of the Supreme Court by not granting NFFU.
“At the behest of the IPS lobby, the government is adopting these dilly-dallying measures,” the officer said. “If you are issuing an order for updating rules, then why not send it for both NFSG and NFFU at once? Do they not realise that the government would be in contempt (of the Supreme Court) if NFFU is not granted in the next ten days?”
The Supreme Court had, in February 2019, extended the status of organised group ‘A’ services to the CAPF officers and granted them NFFU, thereby putting an end to their decade-long battle to attain parity in terms of pay and promotions with their IPS counterparts.
In July, the cabinet approved the extension of benefits of both NFFU and NFSG to the CAPFs. Yet, three months later, the government has not given the orders for implementation of NFFU, leading to massive discontent among the CAPF officers.
On 31 July, the SC had asked the government to expedite the process of granting better pay benefits and complete it within two months — a deadline which will lapse in ten days.
“This order has just caused more confusion because it only talks about one part of the judgment (NFSG), and not the other (NFFU)…There is some talk that they will go back to court to ask for an extension, but there is no clarity,” said a serving BSF officer who did not want to be identified.
“So, of course, it is leading to some degree of panic in the forces,” he added.
Amending the ‘rules’
The CRPF officer quoted above also asked why the memorandum just mentioned “amend the rules”. “Which rules are they talking about? Why are they not specifying Recruitment Rules?”
The revision of Recruitment Rules of the CAPFs is at the heart of the battle between the CAPFs and their IPS counterparts. While the CAPF officers believe that it is necessary to update their Recruitment Rules to get them in sync with their new organised Group A status, IPS officers believe doing so is not necessary.
According to CAPF officers, the revision of the Recruitment Rules would mean theirs becomes a closed service — meaning the deputation of IPS officers in their forces stops — which is something IPS officers vehemently oppose.
Also read: How one line in a Supreme Court order has led to a clash between IPS & CAPF officers