Union Home Secretary asks States to send more IPS on central deputation

Despite the Supreme Court’s order to progressively reduce deputation of IPS officers in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), the Union Home Secretary, Govind Mohan (IAS:1989:SK), has asked the States to send more IPS officers on Central deputation to fill middle to senior-level positions in the CAPFs and Central Police Organisations (CPOs). The letter was sent to the States in the first week of January.

While the CAPFs comprise the BSF, CISF, CRPF, ITBP, and SSB, the CPOs include the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the National Investigation Agency (NIA), and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).  

The Supreme Court had directed the Centre to “progressively reduce” the deputation of IPS officers in the senior administrative grade (SAG) or up to the rank of Inspector-General in the CAPFs through its ruling on May 23, 2025.  The Centre, on its part, filed a review petition against this order, but it was dismissed by the apex court on October 28, 2025.

At present about 20% of posts in the rank of Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) and 50% of posts in the rank of Inspector-General (IG) in the CAPFs are reserved for IPS officers. The top court’s verdict meant a significant reduction in the IPS dominance in the CAPFs.

It also meant providing benefits to around 13,000 CAPF officers in getting faster promotions and overcoming issues of stagnation.  

The Home Secretary’s letter states that 40% of senior duty posts in each cadre are earmarked as Central Deputation Reserve.  The letter rues that some of the states/cadres do not send a sufficient number of nominations for Central deputation. Besides, the state governments in many cases send more names but do not propose the names for appointment to the posts of SP to IG. He wants the state govts to make a conscious attempt to forward the nominations of officers for deputation in such a manner that officers of different levels/ranks are adequately and proportionately represented. 

The Home Secretary reminded the States that the Union Govt follows the policy of debarring officers from Central deputation for five years if they do not join duty within one month of the issue of getting an appointment order, whether due to personal reasons or due to the State government’s refusal to relieve a particular officer.