Thanks to the Union Home Ministry’s updated tenure policy for central deputation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will soon be able to address the shortfall of IPS officers.
According to the policy, officers with at least five years of service will be eligible for induction into R&AW, IB, NIA, and the CBI. Previously, officials with at least five years of service were eligible for induction into the R&AW, IB, and NIA, but not the CBI.
According to senior MHA officials, the police have been instructed to address the issue of enormous vacancies in the CBI, which are impeding the speed with which investigations are conducted. According to the most recent MHA statistics, the CBI has a vacancy of 42 IPS personnel at the SP level as of October 10 against 73 sanctioned postings. The vacancy is the greatest among the 17 organizations, with 32 in IB.
An SP-level officer is critical in any investigation since they supervise and directly probe the cases. Because the CBI only handles high-profile cases, the lack of IPS officers at the SP level has long hampered the organization and operation of the anti-corruption agency.
Similarly, in the IB, the ranks of IG, ADG, and DG have been added to fill hardcore strength previously reserved for SP and DIG. The number of ‘hardcore’ officers in the IB must not exceed 50% of the total number of vacancies to be filled by IPS officers in the ranks of SP, DIG, IG, ADG, Special DG, and DG.
If a ‘hardcore’ officer leaves the IB and enters R&AW on a lateral shift, they will be treated as a ‘Permanently Seconded’ officer of R&AW for the time they are with the agency.
Furthermore, the aggregate time spent by such an officer in IB and R&AW will be considered for calculating the minimum term required for promotion, deployment, and so on.
The revised policy also takes into account developments in the appointment of top IPS officers.
According to the MHA, every state cadre of the IPS has a central deputation quota, which necessitates additional recruitment to the service to allow for trained and experienced members to serve on postings in the central government.