The Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram, has asked all states to constitute a police establishment board that would decide on transfers and postings.

In Uttar Pradesh, a Civil Service Board (CSB) has existed since 2001 to make transfers and postings, but arbitrary transfers have been the norm rather than the exception in the state all these years.

The CSB comprises three members — Principal Secretary (Home), another principal secretary-rank officer who handles the Home Department in the Chief Minister’s office and the state DGP. It is supposed to take professional decisions regarding transfer and postings, uninfluenced by extraneous considerations.

In the words of an officer, however, “the board is nothing but an eyewash”.

He pointed out how, under the present dispensation, officers had been transferred as many as ten times and it is a rare district police chief who has had a reasonably stable tenure. Explaining the role of the board, the officer said the DGP is supposed to send a proposal regarding transfers and postings of the Home Department. The proposal is then put up before the board.

The proposals for the transfer of officers — who are of IG rank and below — are examined by the board and then approved by the Cabinet Secretary. The Chief Minister gives approval to transfers and postings of officers of ADG rank and above.

Questioning the structure of the CSB, another officer asked: “How can you expect a body that accommodates the ruling party’s favourite officers to take unbiased decisions regarding transfers and postings?” Owing to the presence of these officers in CSB, the secretariat annexe, which houses the CMO and the Home Department, has become more important than the DGP headquarters.

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