Govt ducks IPS panel’s demand

<div class="section0"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government would not bow to the pressure of the IPS officers’ association on the issue of posting IPS officers on cadre posts, including that of the 23 SSPs.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Contrary to the promise it had given in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to implement the all-India service rules by June 30, the government has started making a case for reviewing the entire IPS cadre structure and seek more time from the court to remove the anomalies.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">The case is listed for hearing on July 9.Consequently, the government has, for the time, shelved the proposal to promote two additional director generals, P. Lal and RN Gupta, to the rank of the director general.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">The matter came to a boil after the high court served notice on the state government for not posting IPS officers as SSPs in all the 23 police districts and instead preferring junior PPS officers for the posts. The IPS officers’ association joined issue with the government and demanded that the anomaly needed to be rectified. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">The association had pointed out that the anomaly, only one of its kind in the country, existed not only in posting PPS officers as district police chiefs, but also as much in appointing far junior PPS officers who did not qualify to be in the select list either.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">The PPS officers’ association, however, mounted pressure on the government against it saying that there had been large number of ex-cadre posts in the higher ranks of additional director general and inspector general which were occupied by the IPS officers. For instance, the entire team of senior officers, including that of the ADGP, IG, three DIGs, occupy ex-cadre posts.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">The PPS officers, in a memorandum to chief minister Amarinder Singh, demanded that separate cadre of the PPS officers be constituted to help them occupy posts of ADGP and IG as well.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">The PPS officers said they had been denied promotion to IPS for the last many years. As a result, at least 12 vacancies existed for them in the IPS cadre.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Yielding to the PPS officers’ contention, the state government after consulting legal experts, is believed to have resolved to undertake an exhaustive exercise of reviewing the IPS cadre.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">A meeting of the state officials with the Union home ministry is slated to take place in New Delhi later this month.</span></div> </div>