Maharashtra ministers lobbied for transfers of senior IPS officers, reveal RTI papers

Indian Express: Mumbai: Sunday, 27 September 2015.

Several Maharashtra ministers lobbied for transfers of senior police officers to ensure their choice of officers bagged key posts in the police force, official papers obtained by The Sunday Express under the Right to Information (RTI) Act show.

Consider this. On August 25 this year, state Excise Minister Eknath Khadse – the seniormost minister in the Cabinet – wrote to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, seeking the appointment of 2005-batch IPS officer B G Shekhar as Director (Implementation and Vigilance), Excise. The post, held by excise cadre officers, was held at that time by P P Surve.

Khadse asked the CM to shift Surve as the Divisional Commissioner of Nashik. The official papers show Fadnavis approved the proposal the same day without referring the matter to the Police Establishment Board (PEB).

In six days, the home department issued transfer orders under a law that empowers the chief minister to carry out transfers under the Maharashtra Police Act.

Incidentally, the Fadnavis government had earlier turned down a request from state BJP president Raosaheb Danve and BJP MLA Devyani Pharande for appointing IPS officer Harish Baijal to the same post, arguing that the post was not for police officers.

The papers show that on March 19, the home department had issued orders appointing Sanjay Pandey (1986) as Additional Director General (Prevention of Atrocities against Women) as a promotion posting. But, the CM revoked the order in less than a month, with Girish Bapat, a senior minister who heads the Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection department, objecting strongly to Pandey’s removal from the post of Controller, Legal Metrology.

In a letter to the CM on April 10, Bapat suggested that the March 19 order be revoked and the Metrology post instead be upgraded to the rank of Additional DG for accommodating Pandey.

Fadnavis consented a day later and fresh orders were issued on April 16. Incidentally, the PEB had echoed Bapat’s view in February.

Documents also show that Director General of Police Sanjeev Dayal, too, had spoken out formally against the March 19 order.

In fact, official papers show that the home department received 86 different representations for postings of senior cops, just ahead of the general transfer season in April-May. About 25 of these came from politicians with Maharashtra’s own ministers penning 14 of these. Documents show that the CM eventually agreed to 11 out of these 25 requests. These included some where the PEB had declined the requests.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi, however, said the PEB and the home department had turned down bulk of these representations.

Papers show that the home department agreed to post Swati Bhor as a Superintendent with the Highway Police in Nagpur, acting on Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and Shiv Sena MP Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil’s request; even as the PEB had remarked on the file that “the officer was yet to complete her normal tenure in the (previous) posting”.

A similar observation by the PEB was also overlooked in the case of P R Patil, a state police services officer, who was appointed as a Deputy Commissioner in Pune’s crime branch, following Bapat’s request.

Similarly, the government agreed to move out Rajendra Dabhade from the Anti Terrorism Squad and appointed him as a DCP in Bhiwandi after considering a request from Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan; although the PEB had in May suggested his “retention in the ATS.”

Rural development minister Pankaja Munde put in a word for appointment of Lata Phad as an Additional SP in Latur.

The PEB, on May 12, initially turned this request down, remarking that the “officer had been appointed as Additional SP, Railways, Pune, in January itself”.

But later, the PEB, itself, in this case, recommended the Latur post for Phad, which the CM okayed. Bakshi maintained that merit was considered even in these cases.

Earlier this month, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had expressed concerns over “lobbying” for transfers among cops, stating that is was not a good sign and presented a cause for concern.