Young IPS officers in Tamil Nadu are not amused. With the state government filling nearly half the allotted cadre posts with non-cadre officers, the IPS officers feel that their turf is shrinking. Sources say that 36 of the 76 cadre posts in Tamil Nadu are occupied by non-cadre officers holding the rank of superintendent of police or deputy commissioner of police.
Certainly, the IPS officers feel sufficiently aggrieved to complain about their situation. Sources say that S.R. Jangid, a DGP-rank chief vigilance officer of the state Metropolitan Transport Corporation has written to chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, pointing out that the prevalent transfer policy was in violation of IPS cadre rules, and posed a major disadvantage to young IPS officers. Further, such appointments were made despite an adequate number of cadre officers available in the state.
While it is mandatory to fill a cadre post with a cadre officer, there is provision for an exception. A non-cadre officer may be posted if a suitable cadre officer is not available. Prior approval from the Union government must be sought if the state wishes to continue the arrangement for more than three months. So far, the plea has not elicited an encouraging response from the state government.
Crucial appointments
When the new government takes over, it will have to take a call on three key appointments. Cabinet secretary P.K. Sinha’s extension ends on June 12, while Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Rajiv Jain and RAW chief Anil Dhasmana are both slated to retire in May-end. Like Mr Sinha, the two top sleuths are also on a six-month extension. The troika has been vital to running the nation’s bureaucratic steel-frame at one level and the internal and external security requirements at another.
Though the cabinet secretary’s post is for a fixed tenure of two years, like the home, defence and foreign secretaries, cabinet secretaries usually get an extension mainly because the Prime Minister looks for continuity to manage the bureaucracy. In fact, in Mr Sinha’s case, there is a precedent — both K.M. Chandrasekhar and Ajit K. Seth — served for four years each, due to extensions. Mr Sinha, who was appointed in 2015 for two years, got his first extension of a year in 2017 and the second one has been given now. The extension to Mr Dhasmana pushed the four contenders to be R&AW chief into the background.
