A number of Central paramilitary officers have written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking his intervention to end alleged discrimination at the hands of IPS officers in getting their due service benefits.
The paramilitary officers have also launched a social media campaign, asserting that despite a recent Supreme Court order and subsequent approval by the Union Cabinet, the Forces’ headquarters are creating impediments in the process of granting them organised service benefits and sanction of more posts in supervisory ranks by reducing the number of such offices manned by the IPS officers.
The officials have urged Shah to take “desirable action” so that their recruitment rules (RRs) are amended and a fresh cadre review is done in line with their status as organised Central service.
The framing of new RRs will allow these officers to have more positions in supervisory ranks. Presently, majority of the supervisory posts, especially in the urban areas are manned by the IPS officers even as the cadre officers are posted in the difficult areas of Jammu & Kashmir, Naxal-hit States and the Northeast. The cadre officers further urged Shah to ensure that their financial and social upgrade is granted as this is directly linked to their morale.
The officers seem to be running out of patience and are compelled to make direct representations to the minister as they are yet to get the service benefits that have been ordered by the apex court and granted by the Cabinet.
Paramilitary forces headed by IPS officers are reluctant to complete the proceedings for according them full service benefits like status as organized service and non-functional financial upgrade as the move will affect the career prospects of IPS officers who join these forces on deputation.
Cadre officers have said there are a number of recent instances which have”shaken their faith” in the fairness of the task being undertaken at their head offices.
All the boards, constituted to chart out the process for grant of these service benefits to cadre officers, in these forces are headed by an IPS officer which is a direct conflict of interest, according to cadre officials.
In the Border Security Force, a cadre officer resigned from the board saying the directive to not change RRs will be a “contempt” of the SC order while another officer objected to the manner in which the proceedings were being done in violation of court directive.
A number of cadre officers of the Central Reserve Police Force have approached the SC with writ petitions seeking orders for a fresh cadre review that will enable them more posts from the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) to the Additional Director General rank.
On July 3, the Centre had announced that the cadre officers of paramilitary forces like CRPF, CISF, BSF, ITBP and SSB will be given the non-functional financial upgradation and will be categorised as an organised group A service.
The decision had come after a decade-long legal battle waged by the cadre officers seeking a level playing field and ending the dominance of IPS officers in their senior ranks.