State seeks IPS officers from Centres special drive

Huge vacancies in the IPS level has prompted the State Government to seek from the Centre a dozen officers for its own cadre from the Limited Competitive Examination (LCE) which has been held for the first time in the country.

LCE is a special recruitment drive, backed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, to induct additional officers to fill vacancies in the IPS. It has already run into trouble with protests from various quarters, including IPS officers’ associations and the UPSC.  The State Government, which is currently facing crisis, on Saturday wrote to the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking allocation from the LCE.

Against a cadre strength of 188 IPS officers, Odisha currently has just 106. However, a large percentage of the existing officers is away on deputation. While as many as 23 out of the 106 are on Central deputation, 10 officers are under State deputation reserve and eight undergoing district practical training. Besides, three officers are managing junior posts. This means, just 62 officers are now in position in the State.  The problem, however, does not end there. The 57 posts, earmarked for promotional category, are lying vacant due to non-availability of eligible State Police Service (SPS) officers for promotion into IPS cadre. The State Government is unsure if these posts can be filled up in the next eight to 10 years.

“With the police force expanding and the requirements growing in view of the problems such as Left-wing extremism, the State is on a sticky wicket. Curiously, though the Government is faced with the acute shortage, four of its senior IPS officers are posted as commandants which defies logic,” said an insider.

The State Government’s move to seek officers from LCE comes at a time when its SPS is in a confrontational mood over the former’s decision to reintroduce direct recruitment to DSP ranks since SPS thinks it is likely to choke promotional avenues.

The LCE, on its part, has faced protest as it brings in personnel from SPS, Army and Central Para Military Force with a certain years of experience directly into the IPS cadre. While the IPS officers have deemed LCE as a dilution of the open competitive nature of the all India service, even UPSC has objected to it over issues of quality of service.