Centre retires two IPS over ‘nonperformance’
Home ministry compulsorily retires two Chhattisgarh cadre officers ‘in public interest’
RAIPUR/NEW DELHI: The Centre has compulsorily retired two IPS officers of Chhattisgarh cadre — AM Juri and KC Agarwal— “in public interest” on charges of being inefficient, sending message to officials to either perform or perish. More than 130 officers have been given premature retirement in the past over two years, Union minister Jitendra Singh told Rajya Sabha.
NEWDELHI/RAIPUR: In a strong message to ‘inefficient’ officials, the Centre has compulsorily retired two IPS officers of Chhattisgarh cadre AM Juri and KC Agarwal ‘in public interest’.
This is the second instance in recent months when the home ministry has acted tough against Indian Police Service (IPS) officers for inefficient performance or doubtful integrity and compulsorily retired them from service.
“I have received the order of the government and going through it,” Juri told Hindustan Times on phone.
The other IPS officer KC Agarwal was not reachable for his reaction despite several attempts.
Juri is currently posted as assistant inspector general (planning and provisioning), while Agarwal was with police telecommunication department.
The action has been taken under All India Service Rule 16(3) that says the central government in consultation with the state government concerned can retire an officer of the service in public interest after serving them notice in this regard.
“The officers have been served notice in this regard. This should not be construed as punishment,” said a Union home ministry official in Delhi on the condition of anonymity.
The official added that the Centre reviews the performance of the three All India Services officers – the IPS, the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Forest Service – at two stages, once on the completion of 15 years and again on completion of 25 years of service.
In January, the home ministry has acted against two other IPS officers – Raj Kumar Dewangan from the 1992 batch of Chhattisgarh cadre and Mayank Sheel Chohan from the 1998 batch of the AGMUT (Arunachal, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre – and served them notice of compulsory retirement.
Juri was scheduled to retire in 2019 and Agrawal was slated for retirement in 2020.
Juri and Agrawal were promoted to the IPS from state police in 2011 and were allotted the 2000 and 2002 batches respectively.
Juri was earlier posted as SP Balod and SP Baloda bazaar and was for last few years attached to various departments in police headquarters at Raipur. Agarwal, on the other hand, was SP Jashpur, SP Rail and then shifted to telecommunication department of the Chhattisgarh police.