Speed up filling IPS vacancies, says Rajnath

The Union Home Ministry is in the process of finalising a comprehensive plan to speed up clearing over 900 vacancies and remove delays in regular promotion in the Indian Police Service (IPS).

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who reviewed recruitment, promotion and other career-related matters last week, has asked top officials to work out a plan to ensure that vacancies are filled up as early as possible. 

The shortage of IPS officers is also affecting areas like anti-Maoist operations. The Home Ministry is once again moving a proposal to deploy newly-appointed IPS officers in Maoist-infested states and then move to their cadre after two or three years so that there is no dearth of IPS officers in the area to provide leadership.

Officials have pointed out delay in empanelment of IPS officers at senior levels as well as in the finalisation of recruitment rules and notifications pending for different levels of officers in the police as the reasons for the bottlenecks in clearing vacancies.

Singh has asked officials to finalise the procedure for recruitment rules in consultation with the Department of Personnel and Training and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). It should be streamlined and simplified, he said.