Despite the provision in the service rules for holding the meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) twice a year, the officials of Uttar Pradesh Provincial Police Services (PPS) cadre have been waiting to be promoted to the IPS rank for two years.

The president of the PPS Association Wasim Ahmed said, “There are 27 vacancies for IPS officer lying with the state government, but the file related to the DPC was sent to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for approval in June-end.”

The last meeting of the DPC, which was originally scheduled for 2006, was held in 2007, when 17 PPS officers were inducted into the IPS cadre. The officers-in-waiting are Additional SPs of 1981, 82 and 83 batch.

Uttar Pradesh Home Secretary Mahesh Gupta, who has been looking after the matter, said, “The DPC for the PPS cadre was delayed following a stay order from the Lucknow Bench of the High Court regarding the gradation list of the cadre. Though the stay still exists, the file has been sent to the UPSC for consideration after consulting legal experts.”

Wasim Ahmed, however, said the stay order was issued in August 2008 after a petition was filed by a PPS officer regarding amendment in the rules of the gradation list of the cadre by the state government.

The petitioner had raised objections over the amendment which gave seniority to promoted officers of the reserved quota in the gradation list ignoring their service period and batch, Ahmed said.

... contd.