Top Heavy Bottom Loose

By Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: "Top heavy and bottom loose."

That is how the Andhra Pradesh police force stands today. The state police department has as many as eight officers of the rank of Director General of Police (DGP) and 29 of the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP). While S S P Yadav is the Director General and Inspector General -- the top boss of the police force in the state -- there are seven others of the DG rank: P V Naidu, M L Kumawat, M V KrishnaRao, K R Nandan, A K Mohanty, PG Kumar and R R Girish Kumar. Of them, Kumawat and Krishna Rao are on deputation to the Government of India while others are serving in various capacities in the state. Of the 29 ADGs, four are on Central deputation and the rest are in state service. With too many senior most officers in the police ranks, the government is finding it difficult to accommodate them in suitable posts. In fact, the number of sanctioned DGP posts is two and ADGs is a mere six but with the swelling numbers even the most experienced officers are landing in nondescript posts that actually serve no purpose.

Consider the posts like commissioner of printing and stationery, ADGP(Police Transport Organisation), ADGP(Home guards), ADGP (welfare), ADGP (Organisation), ADGP (Co-ordination) and many such others. One might wonder what such top-ranking officers do in those posts. "Practically nothing. In our parlance they are loopline and punishment postings. It's a 'no work-full pay' privilege," a senior IPS officer observed. The job profile of the high ranking officers may look bleak but nothing denies them privileges like a bullet-proof SUV, posse of gunmen, perks and other monetary benefits associated with the post and everything else that one could command! Earlier, there were not many posts at the top level but subsequent to the enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60 years, the top ranks became crowded and every officer had to be accommodated somewhere or the other. Such vagaries gave birth to posts like chairman, AP State Road Safety Authority (an organisation that exists only on paper), Additional DGP (Human Rights), ADGP (Legal), to name just a few.

"When I joined IPS, there used to be a post called Inspector General (Welfare and Sports). Later, it was split into IG (Welfare) and IG (Sports). Now, welfare is looked after by an ADG. Posts like ADG (Battalions), ADG (Provisioning and Logistics) were unheard of," a middle-level officer pointed out. Police sports are conducted once in two or three years but an IG heads that wing -- without any work. Likewise, police officials themselves say the commissioner of printing and stationery is the most "useless and redundant" position. While annual promotions necessitated creation of new posts for officers, internal politics in the police department,coupled with political whims, have also led to unwarranted postings on many an occasion. The recent posting of A K Mohanty, a DGP-rank officer, as the Road Safety Authority chief is a classic example. While that is the case with the police top brass, acute shortage of junior officers for field positions is also hitting hard. The state got only 19 IPS officers (regular recruits) between 1997 and 2005. For many years during the period, the state was allotted just one direct recruit officer a year, depriving it of the services of young and dynamic officers for field positions in the districts. Interestingly, as many as 14 non-cadre officers were conferred IPS in 1998, seven in 1999 and seven more in 2000 but they stand no match to direct recruits, a top police officer remarked.