UPA II reluctant to fill security posts lying vacant for months

 Officials in the Home Ministry worked frantically to ensure that a judge was appointed to probe Snoopgate in the last days of the UPA regime but there was no such urgency shown to fill important security posts lying vacant for months.

Top positions in the security establishment are vacant with no efforts being made to find suitable replacements.

Vacuum

The position of Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Home Ministry, held by a Director General IPS officer, has been vacant for the past eight months since the retirement of S. Jayaraman in September 2013. The officer heads the ministry's internal security wing and reports directly to the home secretary.

Even the position of Secretary (Security) in the Cabinet Secretariat, appointed by the Prime Minister, was not filled after Yashovardhan Azad was appointed Information Commissioner in November 2013.

Several other vacant positions in paramilitary forces are also held by senior IPS officers.

The ministry has also put on hold the empanelment of 1981 and 1984 batches of the IPS as Special Directors General and Additional Directors General at the Centre.

"With senior positions remaining vacant, officers are given additional charge, which means more work and pressure. It also leads to hectic lobbying for vacant positions," said a senior officer.

The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), which guards the Indo-Nepal border and carries out other internal security duties, is without a chief. Its chief Arun Chaudhary retired on April 31. Central Industrial Security Force DG Arvind Ranjan has been given its additional charge. Earlier Ranjan held additional charge of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) when he was heading the National Security Guard.

No special DGs

The CISF, responsible for securing airports and industrial units, was also without a regular DG for nearly three months when Ranjan was appointed in December 2013.

The largest paramilitary force, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) serving in Maoist areas, northeast and Jammu and Kashmir, is without three Special DGs, who are responsible for heading three field formations in the northeast, Kashmir and Central zones.

The government has done away with the post of Additional DG in the ITBP for the time being. Sources said this is a crucial post as the Additional DG directly coordinates with IGs and supervises operations. The post was given to National Disaster Response Force chief Mahboob Alam who was previously serving as additional DG in ITBP. Alam also held the charge of DG for some time as the government did not appoint a full-time DG. The BSF is also without two Special DGs and one Additional DG.

Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/home-ministry-upa-ii-sashastra-seema-bal-cisf-crpf-itbp/1/361692.html