Politicians, bureaucrats suggest police postings: RTI reply

IBNLive.com; Thursday, August 4, 2011.

Mumbai, Aug 3 (PTI) Strengthening popular belief about political interference in the police department, reply to a query under RTI Act has revealed that the Maharashtra police accepted 54 of the 231 recommendations made by politicians and bureaucrats for transfers and postings of officers. The recommendations were made during January 2009 and January 2011, which was revealed through an RTI application made by Jeetendra Ghadge. According to the reply, the recommendations were made by politicians for the posts of Additional Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, Police Inspectors (PI), Assistant Inspectors of Police (API) and Police Sub Inspectors (PSI). Though the Police Public Information Officer (PIO) has not named any ministers, the RTI reply shows that the maximum number of requests came from Home minister's office, which was followed by the Chief Minister's office. The reply further said that the recommendations were also received from the office of State ministers, MLAs, MPs, IAS officers and IPS officers. According to the reply, a maximum of 129 recommendations were forwarded from the office of Home Minister, while Chief Minister's office sent 51. Other ministers recommended 27, IAS and IPS sent 23, while an MLA sent one. What is more surprising is that the Director General of Police's office accepted as many as 40 recommendations from the office of the Home Minister.