Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government is yet to sent to the center a list of police officers to be conferred the IPS, citing a lack of vacancies to appoint the officers when promoted. The list contains the names of 33 superintendents of police waiting to be appointed to 13 vacancies from 2016.
Home additional chief secretary Subrato Biswas has been sitting on the list for one-and-a-half months even after the chief minister’s office got itself involved.
The list includes SP R Sukesan, who was exonerated from a crime branch case related to the high-profile bar bribery case investigated by him. The government prepared the list only after Sukesan became eligible to be considered. The list was delayed further as the government wanted to wait until three more officers got clean chits.
Meanwhile, the 2015 list was presented to the center and four officers from the list were conferred the IPS. Even those officers are yet to be appointed for lack of vacancies, the home department said.
The department honchos said that deputy superintendents had been promoted to fill the vacancies that were reported in the past one-and-a-half years.
Police officers, however, disagree. They said there were enough vacancies in intelligence, crime branch and the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau and the battalions. More than 10 officers are set to retire in March and April.
The disgruntled officers said that the conferring of the IPS may take several months even if the government passed on the list now.
The home secretary has to set the process in motion by seeking the chief minister’s permission to grant the officers on the list integrity certificates. The home department has to pass on the list with the integrity certificates to the general administration department. The list has to go through the chief secretary to the chief minister before it is sent to New Delhi.
Officers alleged that an additional secretary in the home department was delaying the process for reasons best known to him.
Kerala’s hesitation to send the list contrasts with other states including Tamil Nadu, which have even prepared their lists for 2017. Many states are prompt in submitting their lists in January to ensure that deserving officers are rewarded.
In Kerala, most of the 33 officers in the 2016 list have been retired for two years. Even if they are conferred they will not be able to continue in service for more than two years.
The lists from Kerala is often delayed because many on the list would be facing departmental inquiries and disciplinary actions. Their confidential reports will have to be corrected before their names could be recommended for the IPS.
Read: Latest Kerala News
