S.K. Bhalla
We at People's Civil Vigilance Cell (PCVC) have gathered information (with records) regarding the mess in the roaring transfer industry in the Jammu Kashmir Police which is breeding an unrest of sorts among a good section of dedicated and disciplined members of the belt force. Today's piece is restricted to in the first instance the mandate of ‘Senior Personnel Board' constituted in 2012 by the then Director General of Police, Mr. Ashok Prasad to protect the transfers at senior level in police from political interference.
The process of such transfers was broadly dealt with eleven point comprehensive guidelines that was, upto some extent contained the politician and officers with clout to influence the choicest postings. Some of the major points were:
1) To work out a well defined career planning for Gazetted officers in each cadre of the service in which a timeline is fixed/explored for progressive promotion avenues at regular intervals so that timely promotions are earned by an incumbent during his/her service career.
2) To study the existing promotion avenues available in different Cadres of the Gazetted Service and suggest the measures as to how a uniformity in the promotion avenues is explored as in some cadres there is level of stagnation compared to others who fairly enjoy a better career progression.
3) To study and chalk out the broader pre-requisites/principle areas to be taken into account for transfer/posting of Gazetted officers to a particular wing/unit and formulate Draft Transfer Policy in this regard.
4) To work out a system of rotational career planning with an objective that every officer gets posting in each wing during his service career for his/her overall professional development.
5) To suggest the means for standardization of the transfer/posting of Gazetted officers of the Police Department in such a manner that on completion of prescribed tenure in a particular wing/unit, he/she be automatically shifted out without waiting for the feedback from the field formations.
6) To chalk out/identify the areas of duties in every wing of the Police Department and to determine/fix the criteria/pre-requisites for officers to be posted on such duties according to their service/career profile.
7) To prioritize the wings where an incumbent can be posted subsequent to his probation/practical training.
8) To lay down parameters for posting on key functions/assignments in various wings of the Department.
9) To prepare a list of critical posts and also formulate a panel of potentially suitable officers so that no officer(s) becomes indispensible and that the department has a good number of alternate choices.
10) To identify administrative and promotion issues relating to each rank and zone requiring immediate, medium and long term solutions/changes/adjustments/policy.
11) To formulate a policy for performance evaluation and suggest steps to concretize the promotion/posting.
On a close scrutiny of the aforesaid points, one finds that there is not even a single word in the guidelines on fixing the accountability for lapses, if done, at such a senior level postings. Moreover, some points are repetitive and some are contradictory within the norms. These observations can generate a healthy debate among those who have some concern for the better working culture in the police department.
Furthermore, many orders of postings of officers of the rank of SPs and beyond issued in the past are in blatant violation of the above referred to norms.
Many deserving officers have been sidelined because they did not have any Godfather in the corridors of power. There are reports of even extraneous considerations outweighing merit and suitability. Political pressure in many cases tilted the scales and some orders were modified in commensurate with the foul pressure generated from political masters.
There is no denying that certain assignments are considered plum postings. If that is the consideration then why the spoils of power not be evenly distributed though it is morally wrong?
In a recent order that is doing the circles in the police department one Zuber Khan swapped his posting with that of Altaf Khan. Reportedly, both are real brothers and related to the incumbent Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir Division.
There are many other instances that will be reported in the columns in the days ahead.
