No officer to be in one branch for over 5 years: CBI policy
TRANSFER RULES Branches will hitherto have at least 50% personnel on deputation from that state; resentment among officers
NEW DELHI: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Rishi Kumar Shukla has ordered that all the agency’s branches across India will hitherto have at least 50% personnel on deputation from that state and that no officer will spend more than five years in any branch, causing massive resentment among its so-called cadre officers.
The agency’s new transfer policy, announced on November 20, has come into effect with immediate effect. The new policy, which has been reviewed by HT, states that 50% of CBI personnel in all ranks — executive (which includes investigative officers), ministerial, stenographers as well as those in its legal wing -- in any particular branch will be officers on deputation from that particular state.
It adds that investigating staff — from Sub-inspector to DIGS and law officers up to the rank of DLA (deputy legal advisor) — will have a normal tenure of three years in a branch which may be extendable to a maximum of five years. And no officer can spend no more than 10 years in one city.
CBI cadre officers, who join the premier agency directly and form at least 50% strength, say they are being targeted as IPS officers anyway have a tenure of five to seven years in the agency.
Cadre officers are also learnt to have written to the director pointing out issues with the new policy and seeking its roll back.
The policy, approved by Shukla and signed by deputy director (Personnel) Anurag on November 20, adds that “every official who joins the CBI directly shall serve a minimum of four stations (cities) in his entire career including at least one full term hard area posting”.
Justifying the new policy, CBI has stated that it is being done to maintain the “All India Character” of the agency.
Several CBI officers HT spoke to pointed out that the 50% percent rule is irrational considering that 60-65% of CBI’S total strength (5,962) is posted in Delhi. “A large number of people working at CBI headquarters in Delhi, which has all the important branches, are from different states. So, this (new policy) could lead to either smaller branches getting overstaffed or important branches like Delhi and Mumbai getting short-staffed,” one of them explained. ““Imagine a scenario where 50% percent of personnel in CBI’S Ranchi or Goa branches have to be from these states. The basic math applied here is wrong because there is a possibility that there won’t be that many officers in agency from a particular state. The majority of officers in CBI are from the northern states. To implement this policy, CBI will have to fill its existing vacancies,” added this person who asked not to be named.
Support and executive staff up to the ASIS (additional Sub-inspectors) rank, administerial staff and stenographers move all important files in a unit, assist senior officers in documentation, court hearings etc and are crucial to CBI’S functioning. “If these officers, who are backbone of the agency, are moved out every five years, it will be tough for CBI to function because it takes at least six for a new person to understand working of a branch,” said the officer.
The policy is also silent on spouses which, a second CBI officer labelled as discriminatory and in contravention with the rule of Department of Personnel and Training which says that if husband and wife are from same service or state government, they should preferably be posted at the same or nearby station.
Interestingly, the policy says that director can post/transfer or relax any provision of policy at any point of time to ensure its integrity and credibility. A third CBI officer said on condition of anonymity that “trying to replicate a transfer policy of central armed police forces blindly is against the interests of CBI”.
Former CBI assistant director N S Kharayat said: “There has never been a uniform transfer policy in CBI. It has always been the decision of senior officers. Transfers should be done regularly but there has to be a clear policy”.
The CBI has 72 units in 38 branches in 28 states/uts dealing with corruption, economic offences, cyber crime, special crimes, etc.
CBI didn’t respond to HT’S detailed email query sent on Monday.