Karnataka police clear part of 69 Bengaluru transfers stalled over Congress bickering

In the three DySP transfers, Manjunath Choudhary has been posted to the Central Crime Branch, Sampigehalli ACP T Rangappa has been retained in the post and Ravi P, who was awaiting a transfer, has been sent to Doddaballapur.

The orders also cancel intelligence DySP Murugarajendraiah M’s transfer (ordered on August 1) to Sampigehalli in Bengaluru by retaining him in the intelligence department.

The government was forced to halt the 69 police transfers in the Bengaluru region on account of disputes arising among Congress ministers and MLAs over police officers to be appointed in their constituencies, sources said.

Transfer orders for 211 officers were recalled soon after their release last week over the disputes, especially with regard to the posts in the state capital.

“There are disputes in the choice of candidates for police stations in the constituencies of some ministers from Bengaluru. These are being sorted out and rationalised,” a senior police official said last week.

“The transfer issue has been sorted out and the list is being cleared,” an officer said Wednesday.

In an example of the competing interests, an MLA recommended the transfer of an officer to a police station in northeast Bengaluru through the home minister, but this was opposed by a minister from the adjoining region who approached Siddaramaiah and sought another candidate, police sources said. The chief minister’s word prevailed ultimately.

The sources said there had been a conflict in recommendations from the offices of the chief minister, the deputy chief minister, the home minister and other ministers. “The home minister (G Parameshwara) feels that he should have the final word, the deputy CM (D K Shivakumar), who is also the Bengaluru minister, wants his say and the CM, who has ultimate authority, has also had a say. This has caused differences,” a source said.

JD(S) leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy last week sought answers from the government on the stalling of the August 1 police transfer orders for Bengaluru. “Let them reveal what transpired on the transfers. Let them say whose list was approved and why the transfers were stopped. They have all the documents,” he said while hinting that there had been a showdown among Congress leaders before the transfers were stalled.

The Congress government did not execute large-scale transfers of police inspectors and deputy superintendents of police—the mainstays of field policing and supervision—soon after coming to power in May because many officers had not completed one year of posting as mandated by law.

Over 40 officers who had been transferred to the police headquarters ahead of the Assembly polls were left awaiting postings until the August 1 orders. “We have cleared the postings of the majority of officers who were awaiting posting at the headquarters since the elections,” a source said.

Although the Police Establishment Board headed by the state police chief is supposed to oversee the transfers of DySPs and inspectors, the decisions invariably involve political pressure with officers using recommendations from MLAs and ministers for plum city postings.