Facing crunch, Delhi Police seeks more IPS officers

The request is under consideration by the ministry which shares Delhi Police chief Y S Dadwal's "concern" regarding shortage of Indian Police Services (IPS) officers here, sources said.

They said Delhi Police made the request to the ministry considering the upcoming mega sport event -- Commonwealth Games -- and the complexity in dealing with law and order in the city.

Senior IPS officers working on deputation with central security agencies like Intelligence Bureau and Central Bureau of Investigation are also likely to be called back if the proposal gets the nod from the Ministry, they said.

Dadwal has asked the Ministry to give approval to its request and post maximum IPS officers of AGMU (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories) cadre for 45 days during the Commonwealth Games scheduled here between October 3 and October 14.

Currently, about 50 IPS officers from the level of Assistant Commissioners of Police to Special Commissioners of Police are working with different departments of Delhi Police.

The total cadre strength in Delhi includes 21 posts at the level of Superintendent of Police (SP), 10 Deputy Inspector General (DIG), 14 Inspector General (IG), three Additional Director General (ADG) and two Director General (DG) of police level.

However, the sanctioned strength are almost filled up in the national capital. "There is shortage of IPS officers to manage law and order situation here. This may lead to some sort of mismanagement in maintaining law and order related duties," the sources said.

Dadwal has expressed his concern about insufficient number of such police officers especially when the country is organising its maiden and biggest sporting event.
When contacted, a senior Home Ministry official said the letter has been received and is under consideration.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has recently announced to increase the intake of IPS officers from 130 to 150 through the All India Civil Service Exams.

A committee led by retired IPS officer Kamal Kumar in its report last year has confirmed the MHA's earlier concerns about grave neglect in deciding the number of candidates to be recruited as IPS in the Civil Service Exams during the four-year period between 1999 and 2002.

The Union Public Services Commission has also decided to induct 965 officers from this year through its all India level exams as against 580 in 2009.