Young officers of the rank of Captains and Majors in the Army can apply to become police officers if the home ministry’s proposal for limited recruitment into the Indian Police Service (IPS) is cleared by the government. The MHA proposal entails limited recruitment into the IPS through a special examination conducted by the UPSC which will be open to officers from the Army, state police and Central paramilitary forces. The proposal will soon be sent to the defence ministry for its comments.
As per the proposal, two chances will be given to Captains and Majors in the Army, deputy superintendents of police in the states and assistant commandants in the five Central Paramilitary Organisations to crack the UPSC examination which will be held once a year.
The eligibility criteria to sit for the examination has been fixed at 35 years of age with atleast five years of continuous service experience, government sources said.
“The aim is to launch the special examination to be conducted by the UPSC in 2011. This way, an additional 70 officers will be inducted every year into the IPS till 2016,” a government official said.
The department of personnel and training has framed the recruitment guidelines and sought the comments of all state governments and Central paramilitary forces.
Earlier, nearly half a dozen states like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh had backed the UPSC in turning down the MHA proposal arguing that such a move will result in the elite service losing its sheen. Among the paramilitary forces, the ITBP had raised a red flag saying it will result in depletion of cadre in the armed forces.
However, taking into account that majority of the states had accepted the special recruitment plan to fill the growing vacancies in IPS, the government has finalised its proposal and hopes to launch it next year. The government has also decided to give one more chance to SCs, STs and OBCs to sit for the special examination to meet the shortfall of at least 30 officers in the reserved category in the IPS every year.