Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan has written to the States to send more Indian Police Service (IPS) officers on Central deputation.
The deputation is to fill middle to senior rank positions in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Central Police Organisations (CPOs), which include the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the National Investigation Agency (NIA), and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
The letter sent to the States in first week of January comes even though the Supreme Court on October 28, 2025, dismissed a review petition filed by the Union Government against the court’s May 23, 2025 ruling to “progressively reduce” the deputation of IPS officers in the senior administrative grade (SAG) or up to the rank of Inspector-General in the CAPFs.
Presently, 20% posts in the rank of Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) and 50% posts in the rank of Inspector-General (IG) in the CAPFs are reserved for IPS officers. The court’s decision is meant to significantly reduce the IPS dominance in the CAPFs. Around 13,000 CAPF officers are likely to benefit from the judgment, leading to faster promotions and overcoming issues of stagnation. The MHA is the cadre controlling authority of both the CAPFs and the IPS.
As on December 23, out of the 188 posts at the DIG/IG level that are reserved for IPS officers in CAPFs such as BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP and the SSB, 36 posts are vacant.
The letter by Mr. Mohan stated that 40% of senior duty posts in each cadre are earmarked as Central Deputation Reserve. “However, it has been the experience that some of the States/cadres do not send a sufficient number of nominations for Central deputation. Further, many a time, the State governments send more names of senior IPS officers, but they do not propose the names for appointment to the posts of Superintendent of Police to Inspector-General. It would, therefore, be appropriate if a conscious attempt is made by the State governments to forward the nominations of officers for deputation in such a manner that officers of different levels/ranks are adequately and proportionately represented, as well as every eligible officer gets an opportunity to serve at the Centre,” the letter stated.
It added that the Central Deputation Reserve of each IPS cadre determines the extent to which the number of officers could be sent on deputation to Government of India. “States need to sponsor adequate number of officers so that posts reserved for IPS officers in CAPFs/CPOs are manned by them. ....Sometimes State governments withdraw the names of the officers from offer, subsequent to their selection to a post or do not relieve them for taking up the assignment at the Centre consequent upon their selection. This results in considerable delay in placement of officers at the Centre and adversely impacts the entire process of selection, deputation and cadre management,” it said.
The Home Secretary said that the Government of India has been following the policy of debarring officers from Central deputation for five years if he/she, on being selected, does not join within one month of issue of his/her appointment order, either on account of personal disinclination or on refusal by the State government concerned to relieve the officer.
Curated by James Chen
