Opening the door for induction of in-service officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Police into the Indian Police Service (IPS) after 10 years, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has filled up all the cumulative vacancies and inducted 28 officers of the Union Territory into the IPS.

According to a notification issued by the MHA on Monday, 4 October, the MHA has inducted as many as 28 officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Police Service into the IPS on the recommendation of the Selection Committee and approval of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). However, most of the officers have been granted this benefit after retirement from service as no such induction had taken place in the last 10 years.

The officers, serving and the retired, have been inducted into the IPS against the vacancies of the years 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. If not filled up on time, two vacancies are deducted each year from the cumulative list. Out of 28 inductions, only 14 of the serving officers get the benefit.

Of the 14 J&K officers, 5 have been placed in the select list of the year 2012. They include Shkati Kumar Pathak, Dr Mohammad Haseeb Mughal, Javid Ahmad Kaul, Sheikh Junaid Mehmood and Shahid Meraj Rather. Seven more, namely Dr Ajeet Singh, Altaf Ahmad Khan, Haseeb-ur-Rehman, Vikas Gupta, Abdul Qayoom, Nisha Nathyal and Javid Iqbal Matoo, have been accommodated in the select list of the year 2013. All the 12 are from the 1999 batch of the State Police Service. Their appointment into the IPS has been duly approved by the President of India.

All the officers have been allotted AGMUT (Assam, Goa, Mizoram, Union Territory) cadre. Their year of allotment will be notified separately. Officials said that most of the 12 inductees of the select list of 2012 and 2013 would get 2008 as their year of allotment. It means that a minimum of 4 senior most officers would be elevated to the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) after a meeting of the departmental promotion committee as the regular recruits of the year 2008 are already serving as DIG in J&K. However, this is subject to availability of the vacancies.

By virtue of induction from SPS to IPS, all these serving and retired officers would get the benefits, including medical insurance cover and LTC, as per the entitlement of the IPS officers.

Department of Personnel and Trainings (DOPT), which administers the IPS, has of late decided to bring the ratio of the SPS and IPS officers in the UT of J&K at par with other States and UTs. Even though 50 SPS: 50 IPS was the norm in all the States and UTs, in J&K it was 67 SPS: 33 IPS for a long time. It has retarded the prospects of induction for most of the SPS officers of the batches 1999 and beyond but the process has been started after a gap of 10 long years.

According to a statement issued from the J&K Police headquarters, Director General of Police Dilbag Singh has expressed his happiness and gratitude to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Union Home Secretary A K Bhalla and Chief Secretary Dr A K Mehta for induction of the JKPS officers into the IPS cadre. The DGP has said that this induction of officers would open the career progression prospectus of the JKPS officers and would go a long way in boosting the morale of officers”.

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