New Delhi: Concerned over the "acute problem of stagnation" in the cadre of Inspectors in the Delhi Police, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has directed the Centre and the city government to take steps to address the issue expeditiously.
"We cannot ignore the fact that there is an acute problem of stagnation in the cadre of the applicants (Inspectors), which requires immediate remedial measure.
"Without interfering in the domain of the Executive, we direct the respondents (Centre, Delhi Government) to take immediate steps to overcome the problem of stagnation in the cadre of the applicants," a bench comprising members G George Paracken and Shekhar Agarwal said.
The Tribunal also observed that "the problem has arisen mainly on account of inadequate recruitment of direct recruits and not holding cadre review on time."
The order came while disposing of a plea of three Delhi Police Inspectors who had moved the tribunal aggrieved by the "stagnation" in their cadre after they were granted just one promotion despite being in service for three decades.
The Inspectors, Jai Kishan, Ved Bhushan and Dharam Pal who had joined the Delhi Police as Sub-Inspectors in 1981-83, contended that they have received only one promotion in all these years.
They had sought directions to the Home Ministry, Ministry of Personnel and Public Grievances, Delhi Government and the Union Public Service Commission to increase the number of posts of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACPs) in the force.
They had also contended that total sanctioned strength of ACPs was 332 as on January 1, 2010 and 348 as on January 1, 2012, however, only 261 posts of ACPs are actually encadered. They had also contended that the problem was aggravated due to cadre review not taking place for long.
The Ministry of Home Affairs while admitting there was stagnation, submitted that it has written to the Chief Secretary and administrators of various state governments and Union territories proposing to carry out cadre review of Delhi, Anadmans & Nicobar Islands Police Service (DANIPS) and has sought proposals from various authorities.
The CAT after going through the letter which the MHA had written to the states and Union territories expressed the hope "that matter is pursued expeditiously and taken to its logical conclusion".
The Tribunal also said that the relief prayed for by the applicants be treated as "possible suggestions" for overcoming this problem and asked the ministry to take appropriate decision in the matter expeditiously, preferably within six months from the date of receipt of the order.
In their plea, the applicants had sought directions to the concerned ministries and the Delhi government to hold Comprehensive Cadre Review to change the existing ratio of direct recruits and promotee officers by amending the rules of recruitment.
As per their plea, the current ratio was 50 per cent posts of ACP being filled by promotion and 50 per cent by direct recruitment, which they had sought to be modified to 80 per cent by promotion and 20 per cent by direct recruitment.
They had also sought directions to hold Comprehensive Cadre Review for creating enough promotional avenues to remove the stagnation among Inspectors by creating new posts.
PTI
