The Uttar Pradesh government has told the Centre that law and order is its constitutional duty and it needs able officers on important posts to discharge the same. The communication has come in response to a Ministry of Home Affairs review of transfers of the officers in the past two years. Union Home Secretary Pillai,in a letter to UP Chief Secretary Atul Gupta,had said the frequent transfers would hit officers morale. On Wednesday,in a letter to Pillai,UP denied that the IPS officers were frequently transferred,resulting in an adverse impact on their work efficiency. It,however,admitted that there was no fixed tenure for the officers in the state. The state also denied that the IPS officers were transferred under political pressure. The Chief Secretarys letter says UP has constituted a Civil Service Board and the IPS officers are transferred on its recommendations. It adds that the state has its own policy for the transfer of the officers of both the IPS and PPS cadres (Provincial Police Services). According to a press release issued by the states information department,the IPS officers are transferred for the purpose of strengthening the law and order situation and keeping in view the requirement of the cadre. Justifying its stand to frequently shift the IPS officers,the UP government told the Union Home Ministry that it had only 260 IPS officers against a sanctioned strength of 404. It added that the government often faced problems to select an officer as per its requirement due to the shortage.
