In a recent development, the Haryana government has asked the Director General of Police (DGP) to withhold the order of pay fixation of 1997-batch IPS officers following the oversight regarding the allocation of higher pay grades.
The Home department, through an order dated April 23, ordered refixation of pay of two 1997-batch IPS officers who were recently promoted to the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) in level 15 in the pay matrix with effect from July 1, 2024. The issue arose as four IPS officers from the 1996 batch, holding the ADGP rank, had not yet received the higher pay grade, contrary to their junior counterparts.
In a communication dated April 26 addressed to the DGP, the Additional Chief Secretary of the Home department requested the withholding of pay fixation for the 1997-batch IPS officers until the finance department provides approval for adjusting the pay of 1996-batch IPS officers in line with their promotion order from May 2022.
M Ravi Kiran, an IPS officer from the 1996 batch, raised concerns in a letter to the DGP, highlighting the delayed pay fixation of officers of his batch despite their promotion in May 2022. Meanwhile, the pay of recently promoted 1997-batch IPS officers has been promptly fixed on the rank of ADGP. It’s important to note that three more IPS officers—Mamta Singh, Hanif Qureshi, and Krishan Kumar Rao—were also promoted to the ADGP rank. Currently serving as ADGP in the Hisar range, Ravi Kiran wrote that this is against the principle of natural justice as well as the directions issued by the finance department.
According to the pay refixation orders issued by the Home department for the two 1997-batch IPS officers, the officers were drawing a pay of about ₹1.99 lakh in level 14 in pay matrix with effect from July 2023. Their pay was, however, fixed at about ₹2.17 lakh in level 15 in pay matrix with effect from July 2024 under Rule 5(9) of IPS Pay Rules, 2016. This rule allows an IPS officer, upon promotion, to choose the date for pay adjustment either from the promotion date or from the date of earning an increment in the lower scale.
