HYDERABAD: A total of 145 inspectors and sub-inspectors of police from Hyderabad range have been transferred from their home districts to other ones.

A substantial number of the transferred officials belonged to Hyderabad district.

The range has nine districts.

The action is not without favouritism for 61 policemen, including inspectors and sub-inspectors (SIs), have been retained in their home districts by their bosses.

The transfers are done in line with a requirement of police rules that bars posting of a police inspector and SI in home districts. According to policemen, who are transferred from their homes to other districts in Hyderabad range, “they are being discriminated against because they lack clout in their districts”.

“We end up as losers because we have no connections with the right quarters and those who are spared,” said an inspector out of the 145.

A Sindh-wide directive of the inspector general of police (IGP) Sindh necessitated such transfers last week in Hyderabad range. Sindh IGP’s directive deals with application of colonial era’s Police Rules. The directive was issued in the light of a Sindh High Court Sukkur bench decision over invoking of the very rule to transfer inspectors and SIs who had postings in their home districts.

The incumbent IGP Sindh issued directive on Oct 23, mentioning that inspectors and SIs who were posted in their home district should be removed from their postings and transferred to other districts in line with SHC’s order dated Oct 24, 2012 in a matter.

The IGP’s directive also said that “however the inspectors/SIs shall be working in their home district who are assigned clerical work, line officer, reserve inspector and traffic sergeant or those given exemption by the IGP as special case”.

The Sindh police authorities have been intermittently violating and complying with SHC’s 2012 directives. It is again being implemented.

Following the directives initially inspectors and SIs were removed as SHOs of various police stations. Later, many were selectively accommodated against one or the other positions on clerical or administrative side overnight, according to lists available with Dawn.

Taking advantage of the second part of IGP’s directive police authorities — mainly Hyderabad’s — have spared 32 policemen. They are shown to have been working against non-field/clerical assignments overnight like enquiry officer, in-charges of various sections, district intelligence bureau (DIB) etc.

Interestingly, hardly any of those posts was sanctioned within the police department, official sources said.

“Some of these 32 policemen [were] until recently posted as SHOs. They were first transferred from police stations in line with Oct 23 directive. Shortly afterwards they are shown working against these unsanctioned posts,” claimed a range police official. For instance, he said an enquiry officer had to be a gazetted officer yet two of them — one inspector and one SI — were retained as enquiry officer or line officer. “It is in spite of the fact that none had worked as enquiry or line officer,” he said.

“We are discriminated against and it is being done to hoodwink none other than the IGP. We are transferred because we are either not close to officers and lack clout whatsoever,” said another affected policeman. Likewise, he said, those who were still staying in Hyderabad were even otherwise holding positions of sectional “in-charges” for several years.

Such policemen have indeed developed personal stakes and (monetary) interests in these positions if an identical IGP’s directive of Oct 22 is anything to go by. It says that ‘ministerial staff’ has been working for long on one assignment/desk.

“Consequ­ently, concerned officials have developed personal stakes/interest in their assignments. This practice of long duration of posting on an assignment is against administrative discipline as well as root-cause of numerous malpractices,” it said. Those working for three years on same positions shall be rotated within office/units/districts/ranges, it added.

The transferred policemen face another dilemma. Their families stay in Hyderabad and some had joint families including ailing parents. After having been transferred, the most troublesome thing they face is fixation of salary under last pay certificate (LPC). “Our salaries are not fixed that easily and we don’t get accommodation in other districts as well,” complained an inspector from a nearby district. Some districts do not have required vacancies of inspectors/SIs.

On condition of anonymity, an officer said the list of 61 policemen — who are spared across the range by district police chiefs for working against non-field and clerical assignments — had been referred back to the IGP with each position they were holding. “A clarification that if the posts they hold are clerical was being sought for them [61 policemen] from the IGP Sindh,” he added.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2018