Ex-Maharashtra DGP wrote against being ‘ignored’ on police transfers

Before a recent Maharashtra government order that withdrew the 'power of transfer' from the Director General of Police and the Mumbai Commissioner, a letter written on June 18 by the then DGP K Subramanyam to the Home Department pointed to a "glaring variance" in the transfer orders proposed by the Police Establishment Board and what the department finally effected.

In an elaborate letter that raised issues of transparency and governance, Subramanyam detailed 13 serious anomalies concerning officers of the rank of superintendent and above. "Our proposal has offered cogent and valid reasons for proposing any officer for a particular posting, and once again the government seems to have completely ignored the reasons offered by this office," he wrote.

The DGP heads the Police Establishment Board set up by the government to recommend transfer postings of senior police officers.

"It is the prerogative of the government to effect any modifications in the proposals for any reason whatsoever. It is in the interests of transparency and good governance that this office is apprised of the reasons why the government deemed it fit to change the recommendations made by the DG, police," he said. When contacted, Subramanyam refused to comment. Repeatedly stressing that "norms and standards have not been adhered (to)", the letter among other things, points to the rampant transfer of 27 officers of the rank of superintendent of police, who did not figure in the Establishment Board's proposal. These officers, still fresh in their postings, were yet to complete a year, and in some cases even months in their current asignments. None of the 27 had even made any request to the office of the director general of police, thus bypassing the official hierarchy and seeking political interference, the letter stated. Given the outgoing DGP's serious objections to such interventions, the government issued an order on July 30 — just a day before incumbent Sanjeev Dayal was to take charge — partially taking powers of transferring field officers of the rank of police inspectors, assistant police inspector and sub-inspectors.

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