BHUBANESWAR: Referring to large scale vacancy of IPS officers in Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday demanded allocation of at least 10 officials on the basis of civil services examination (CSE)-2017 to the State to help meet the manpower requirement at the supervisory level.
Raising the issue in a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Chief Minister drew his attention to the fact that the Ministry has not allocated IPS officers to the Odisha cadre as per requirement over the years. When the Ministry was requested to allot 10 IPS officers on the basis of CSE-2014 as against 20 regular vacancies, it allocated only six officers, Naveen said and added it allotted 4 IPS officers each on the basis of CSE-2015 and 2016 against the requisition for 10 officers each for the respective years.
Naveen said, out of 131 IPS posts provided under regular recruitment category for the State, only 116 are in position. Out of them 26 officers are on Central deputation, he said and added all the 57 posts to be filled up by promotion under rule 9 of IPS (Recruitment) Rules, 1954 have been lying vacant since 1995 because of legal complications. “As such, only 90 officers are in position in the State against the total strength of 188 leading to 52 per cent of vacancy as on January 1, 2018,” he said.
Stating that many districts of the State are affected with Left Wing extremism, Naveen said the crime profile of the State in the backdrop of such rising threat has become a cause of concern and has necessitated reassessment of the need of police personnel. “This is essential as much to maintain law and order as to ensure unhindered development activities being taken up across the State,” he said and added, “In this context, you may appreciate that the State Government is trying to address the situation by providing additional reinforcement through fresh recruitment of striking forces.”
The Chief Minister said, dearth of adequate police personnel at the supervisory level is badly affecting the State Government’s efforts to improve law and order, maintain peace and contain the LWE incidents and urged Singh to consider allocation of at least 10 IPS officers to Odisha on the basis of CSE-2017.