On Wednesday, the state’s Chief Secretary Atul Gupta sent his reply to the letter from Union Home Secretary G K Pillai. The Union Home Ministry had reviewed the transfer of IPS officers in the last two years of the Mayawati government’s rule. In his letter, Pillai had mentioned that the frequent transfers will hit the morale of the IPS officers in the state.

In its communication to the Centre, the state government has denied that IPS officers are frequently transferred or that transfers happen under political pressure.

Gupta has mentioned that the state government has constituted a Civil Service Board and IPS officers are transferred on its recommendation. There is a policy for the transfer of officers of both IPS and the PPS (Provincial Police Services) cadre.

Justifying its stand to frequently shift IPS officers, the state said it has only 260 IPS officers against the sanctioned strength of 404.

The Centre, it said, has not paid heed to its demand for IPS officers of the new batch. The state, Gupta had written, had got only eight IPS officers from the 2005 batch, 6 from the 2006 batch, 6 from the 2007 batch and 5 from the 2008 batch. The state’s demand was at least 14 IPS officers every year.

The Chief Secretary also mentioned that 22 IPS officers were suspended in the wake of the Police Recruitment Scam and were reinstated later.

A press release issued by the state’s information department said the government had relieved 31 IPS officers for their deputation in Central government and other places while 19 IPS officers returned to their parent cadre after the end of their deputation.