BENGALURU: Almost a dozen young Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of the Karnataka cadre have gone on Central deputation in the last two years. Barring two Inspectors General of Police (IGP) rank officers — Vipul Kumar of 1999 batch and Praveen Kumar of 2003 batch — the rest all, who have opted for Central deputation are Superintendent of Police (SP) rank officers. Praveen is posted as Joint Director; Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Vipul has been posted to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) a month-and-a half back.
According to sources, Karnataka cadre, which earlier had dismal representation in the Centre now ranks among the highest. “Currently, around15 IPS officers of Karnataka cadre are on Central deputation. This is the highest in the last few decades,” said sources on condition of anonymity. Three IPS officers of the 2011 batch - Vinayak Patil is on deputation while his batchmates Isha Pant and Santosh Kumar have been posted to the Intelligence Bureau.
From the 2012 batch of IPS officers Ilakkiya Karunagaran was posted as SSP, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in February this year. Her batchmates - Nikam Prakash Amrit has been posted to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), Rahul Kumar Shahapurwad has been appointed as SP in the National Investigation Agency (NIA), and G Radhika has been posted to the National Police Academy (NPA) for a tenure of five years.
From the 2013 batch, Divya Sara Thomas is posted at CBI. Her batchmate Harish Pandey and BM Laxmi Prasad, of the 2014 batch of IPS are also on Central deputation. Besides the direct IPS officers, two conferred IPS officers from the state have also gone on Central deputation. “While every young IPS officer would want to stay back in the cadre, Central deputation gives wider and greater exposure to officers.
One of the main reasons for ‘migration’ of SP rank officers to the Centre is because of lack of enough opportunities in the state. The number of SPs has almost doubled because of enmasse intake of conferred IPS officers (from state police service) in 2016 and 2021,” added sources.
“Earlier there was a regular intake of three to four conferred IPS officers but because of various reasons, the process was deferred with the result that there are approximately 120 SPs as against the sanctioned strength of around 60.
There are not as many posts or infrastructure to accommodate all of them. Many IPS officers are occupying non-IPS posts, which has also had a cascading effect and led to blocking of promotion of junior level officers. Many promoted sub inspectors retire as DSPs,” added sources.
According to the service rules, a percentage of cadre officers should be sent on Central deputation but historically few IPS officers from Karnataka cadre have opted for it for various reasons. “This is in fact, a blessing in disguise. There should be more representation of the cadre, which is one of the best, in the Central pool,” they added.