Four IPS officers in Telangana planning to move to AP

Hyderabad: At least four more IPS officers of the Telangana state cadre, who were considered close to the late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, are contemplating requesting the Telangana state government for an inter-cadre deputation to AP to work with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

They will start moving on the matter once the Centre clears the inter-cadre deputation of senior IPS officer Stephen Ravindra, who was hand-picked by Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy as state Intelligence chief.

Strictly going by the rules with regard to inter-cadre deputation, it may not be an easy task for officers to get the clearance from the department of personnel and training (DoPT) and many bureaucrats in both Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh are keenly following the developments in Mr Ravindra’s case.

Mr Ravindra, a 1999 batch IPS officer who was posted as IG, West Zone in Telan-gana state, applied for a month’s leave and left for Vijayawada while the Centre is yet to clear his inter-state deputation.

Of the four officers seeking deputation, one has previously worked as Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Mr Rajasekhar Reddy and is now with the Hyderabad city police. Another IPS officer has worked as SP of a district in the coastal Andhra region during the YSR regime and is now an IG-rank official.

The third officer previously worked as DCP, South Zone, Hyderabad while the fourth, also an IG, has worked in Rayalaseema and is considered very close to the YSR family.

While all three have met Mr Reddy separately, the fourth official, who is with the Hyderabad city police, recently applied leave for four days to travel to Vijayawada and meet the AP Chief Minister.

The rules and parameters for inter-cadre deputation laid down by the Centre will force the officials to resort to lobbying in New Delhi for posting in Andhra Pradesh.

As per the rules, inter-cadre transfer is permitted for All India Service officers on marriage to another member of an All India Service, where the officer or officers concerned have sought a change or extreme hardship in the rarest of cases. Inter-cadre transfer is not permitted to the home state of an officer.

The service rules also state that “extreme hardship” includes threat to the life of the officer or his/her immediate family and severe health problems to the officer or his immediate family due to the climate or environment of the state to which he is allotted. “State governments have to consider all the requests for inter-cadre transfers of AIS officers in accordance with the laid-down policy and send only those requests which are covered under the above guidelines for consideration of the Government of India. The requests which are not covered under these guidelines are liable to be rejected at the state level or at the Centre,” a senior police official said.

Another rule which can become an obstacle is that the officers who have reached the super time scale (IG rank and above) are normally not considered for inter-cadre deputation. Mr Ravindra is already an IG and there are two IGs among the four officials who are waiting to apply. “In the case of Mr Stephen, both Telangana state and AP have given the no-objection certificate (NOC) and the matter is now with the DoPT. Since both governments have given their willingness, the Centre, it is expected, may oblige. Even if Mr Stephen’s case is cleared, the remaining officials will find it difficult to get their requests approved,” a senior IPS officer said.