A total of 220 IPS officer vacancies exist in 17 Central organisations such as the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Central Armed Police Forces and the Intelligence Bureau as of February 6. This is due to an insufficient number of IPS officers being nominated for central deputation. Thus, the Union Home Ministry has written State governments to nominate adequate Indian Police Service (IPS) officers for central deputation.
The home ministry raised concerns that state governments were either withdrawing the names of selected officers or not relieving them of their duties to take up central government assignments. In turn, this resulted in significant delays in the placement of officers at the Centre and adversely affected the entire process of selection, deputation, and cadre management.
The home ministry said that it is the IPS officers who will be penalised for not joining Central roles within a month of their selection – “either on account of personal disinclination or on refusal by the concerned State Government to relieve the officer.” They would be debarred from Central Deputation for five years.
As per norms, State cadres are required to reserve at least 40% of senior duty positions for Central Deputation Reserves (CDR). The concurrence of officers is also required for central deputation. The home ministry said that despite some IPS officers submitting their applications/nominations through the online portal for approval by the competent authority, the same was not being processed and forwarded by the cadre controlling authority or the State government. It said a conscious attempt should be made by the state governments to forward the names of officers for deputation under the Government of India. This will ensure that every eligible officer gets an opportunity to serve the Centre at least once at the middle level and again at the senior level.
In February 2022, the Home Ministry amended the IPS tenure policy, eliminating the mandatory requirement of empanelment of IPS officers at the Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) level. For appointment at the level of DIG by the Centre, officers with at least 14 years of experience are eligible.
