Communal hue to transfers

VADODARA, May 18: The recent transfers of several Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service officers by the State government h...

VADODARA, May 18: The recent transfers of several Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service officers by the State government have triggered charges of communal bias against the latter. Officers affected by the transfers and politicians say the transfer of six Muslim officers 8212; two of the IAS and four of the IPS 8212; has removed all members of the minority community from the top posts of the State.

A section of senior leaders of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee has taken up this sensitive8217; issue by denouncing the 8220;blatantly communal transfers8221;. GPCC general secretary J V Momin told Express Newsline that he planned to discuss the issue with BJP leaders next week, in the company of senior community leaders and GPCC members S H Qureshi and Irshad Mirza.

8220;However, what I will be highlighting is the adverse impact on the official machinery the transfers of senior officials 8212; irrespective of caste and creed 8212; have. Senior IAS and IPS and even Gujarat Administrative Service officers are transferred so that party-faithfuls can fill the vacancies8221;, he said.

According to sources in the IAS and the IPS, the coveted 8220;senior8221; posts included police commissioners IG ranks, range DIGs, district development officers and collectors; posts where an officer is responsible for the welfare of a large section of the people.

Police Training Colleges PTC or the crime branch or the Gandhinagar secretariat have comparatively limited scope. 8220;More importantly, officers in these positions have to report to their seniors, while the earlier-mentioned officers have several independent powers8221;, sources said.Consider the impact the reshuffle has had in the State IPS: While S S Khandwawala has been the managing director of the Gujarat Police Housing Corporation Limited and Fazal Guard the deputy inspector-general, Armed Unit, for some time now, A I Sayyed, deputy inspector-general of police, Junagadh range, was transferred to the administrative branch of the Director-General of Police8217;s Ahmedabad office in the latest upheavel. M O Khimani, who was additional commissioner of police, Ahmedabad, has been appointed principal, PTC, Junagadh, while A M Malik, superintendent of police, Dahod, has been transferred to Ahmedabad commissionerate but in an insignificant post.

In another interesting case, superintendent of the Gujarat Railway Police Samiullah Ansari, 30, has been appointed vice-principal, Junagadh PTC, notwithstanding his youth.

Two senior IAS officers, M Pathan and A Nagori 8212; District Development Officer, Kheda and Municipal Commissioner, Bhavnagar respectively 8212; were shunted to the Gandhinagar Secretariat a fortnight ago. S K Sayyed and Habib Badi, probably the most senior IAS officers in the State, have also been out of the limelight for about two years now.

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8220;We cannot speak out, either to the Press or to our leaders in the State or the Centre. Not because we fear adverse consequences but because it does not become us. We have to digest it, whether we like it or not8221;, a senior IAS officer told Express Newsline, adding that the trend ought to be discouraged for the sake of administrative efficiency. P G Ramrakhiani, Secretary, Home, however, told Express Newsline that he was not aware if any discrimination in the transfers; nor had his department been informed of 8220;influenced8221; decisions.