Centre Can Override States In Transfers Of IPS Cadre Officers
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2021-03-01 09:36:43
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The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition that challenged the constitutional validity of Rule 6(1) of the IPS (Cadre) Rules, 1954 on the plea that it was against the states and the federal structure as envisaged by the Constitution. Finding no merits in the arguments laid out in the petition filed by a lawyer from West Bengal, a two-judge bench of the apex court dismissed it.
The petitioner had sought to challenge the constitutional validity of the said rule on the ground that it gave the Centre a final hand in deciding where IPS officers would be posted disregarding the wishes of the states where they were currently posted. This, the petitioner claimed, was increasingly being used by the Centre to allegedly carry out a vendetta against those states which were not politically aligned with it.
Rule 6(1) of the IPS (Cadre) Rules, 1954 read as follows:
"6. Deputation of Cadre Officers:
6(1 ) A cadre Officer may, with the concurrence
of the state government or the state governments concerned and the Central Government,
be deputed for service under the Central Government or another State Government
or under a company, association or body of individuals, whether incorporated or
not which is wholly or substantially owned or controlled by the Central
Government or by another State Government.
Provided that in case of any disagreement, the
matter shall be decided by the Central Government and the State Government or
State Governments concerned shall give effect to the decision of the Central
Government"
These rules were framed mainly because there are always some officers in the
IPS cadre who can be of better use in Centre and/or other states due to their
expertise in some matters. There is no doubt that the rule has been misused,
not only now but also in the past, to call upon officers who are considered to
be the blue-eyed boys of a state in which the ruling party is against the
ruling party at the Centre. But if the rule is not against the Constitution
because in many other matters too, the decision of the Centre prevails whenever
there is a dispute between the Centre and the states. That is the way
Centre-state relations work for otherwise there will be chaos. In any case, IPS
officers are not expected take sides or identify themselves too much with their
political masters. If the Centre sees such an occurrence, it is within its
rights to transfer the said officers. Hence, the apex court is right in
dismissing the petition.
