The dream journey of an IPS officer begins from Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, where batchmates turn into buddies. But after sharing close to 30 years of a relationship, there is a chance that one fine morning your batchmate may become your boss, and that too, a few months before hanging up your boots. As former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri once said: “I am not as simple as I look.” This service is also the same.
At present, the service has run into some human resource problems. In the last one year, many appointments have ended up denting the relationship of batchmates. Though there is no legal issue, it is changing the old practice. And retired as well as serving IPS officers are not positive about this rising trend.
Latest examples of such appointments
In the latest order released last week, 1989-batch IPS officer Nitin Agrawal was given the charge of director general of Border Security Force. While his batchmate PV Rama Sastry was also in the race and one of the strong contenders, as he is already serving in the BSF as SDG, he will now have to take orders from his batchmate.
The story of SL Thaosen is more interesting and has many twists and turns. Currently the DG of Central Reserve Police Force, 1988-batch IPS officer Thaosen had worked under his batchmate for almost 10 months before moving to Sashastra Seema Bal as DG.
Pankaj Singh, who is now the deputy national security adviser, was Thaosen’s DG and also from the 1988 batch. Before being picked for the post of DG, Singh was in the BSF as SDG just like Thaosen. The story made a 180-degree turn and, when Singh retired, he handed over the ceremonial baton to batchmate Thaosen who had the additional charge of DG BSF.
Another 1988-batch IPS officer, UC Sarangi, also worked under Singh in the BSF. In October last year, Thaosen was appointed as DG CRPF, which is the largest paramilitary force. What Thaosen faced in the BSF, 1988-batch Rashmi Shukla of the Maharashtra cadre also faced the same. She worked under batchmate Thaosen for almost five months and, in March, was appointed DG SSB.
Issue not restricted to a single force
The problem is not restricted to the paramilitary forces but also exists in the Intelligence Bureau and Delhi Police, besides state police. The recent appointment of director IB, who is a four-star officer, came after a rare wave of transfers before a 1988-batch IPS officer was appointed.
The manner in which Tapan Kumar Deka was appointed as director IB by the government was rare. Deka and three other officers of the 1988 batch were transferred out of the IB and one of his batchmates, Anish Dayal Singh, worked under him for a few months before moving to Indo Tibetan Border Police as DG. Importantly, two of Deka’s batch-wise seniors were also moved out of the IB before he was given the four-star post, which is also considered the head of the entire police family.
The HR problem was also recently visible in the Delhi Police, when Sanjay Arora was asked to join as commissioner. Sundari Nanda, who is the special secretary (internal security) at the home ministry, had to work under her batchmate for over four months before heading to a key post in the ministry. Nanda was also a frontrunner for the post of commissioner but the central government decided to pick someone from outside the UT cadre.
In fact, according to another recent order released last week, 1996-batch IPS officer Anil Shukla – appointed as Mizoram director general of police – will be giving orders to his batchmate Ajay Choudhary.
What veterans say
When News18 contacted former home secretaries and DG-level officers for their views, none said anything on record but all claimed that such appointments were not only denting the batchmate culture but also turning them into rivals. Some of them also raised the issue of training.
“There was a practice that the central forces would get a senior officer as he had to lead other IPS officers. Take the latest case of CRPF, 1986-batch IPS officer Kuldiep Singh headed the force but there was no one else from that batch at that time in the force. I don’t remember but I have not seen such an amount of appointments denting the batchmate culture and making them rivals. This would also dent the bureaucratic structure but, at the end of the day, it’s the government that has the right to decide,” said a serving DG-rank officer, who worked under his batchmate.
Similarly, another retired DG of ITBP said, “We don’t have this in our training that one day officers may have to take orders from their batchmate who trained with them. It also spreads bitterness among officers and training is such that it will create friction as all have worked together and had similar experiences. Though there may be a batch seniority but that has also been kept aside in some appointments,” said the official on condition of anonymity.