Two 'dead wood' IPS officers removed in Chhattisgarh

Two IPS officers in Chhattisgarh were removed from service by the government for non-performance, a home ministry official said.

A M Juri, who belonged to the 2000 batch of the Indian Police Service, and K C Agrawal, who joined service in 2002, were removed following a recommendation by the Chhattisgarh government, as they were found to be “dead wood”, the official said.

The order removing them was issued by the home ministry on Saturday, after an approval by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The performance of both the Deputy Inspector General-rank officers was reviewed after their completion of 15 years of service in the IPS and both  were found unfit to continue in the service, the official said.

Juri, who joined the state police service in 1983, was promoted to IPS in 2000, while Agrawal joined the state police service in 1985 and was promoted to IPS in 2002.

They were removed as per the All India Services Rules,  1958 “in public interest” after an extensive review of their performance.

“The performance review of IPS officers was conducted to weed out dead wood,” the ministry official said.

Performance review of an all-India service officer is conducted twice — first after the completion of 15 years of qualifying service, and then after 25 years.

According to service rules, the central government may, in consultation with the state government concerned, require a member of the service to retire in public interest, after giving a notice period of at least three months or as many months’ pay and allowances in lieu of the notice period.

Another home ministry official said there were complaints of misconduct by the two officers.