What is the issue?

Various important Central forces organisations in India are functioning without a full time head.

What are organisations facing this problem?

• The Special Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is given additional charge of heading the organisation.
• The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been functioning without a regular Director.
• The Director-General of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is given additional charge as the Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF).
• The elite National Security Guard (NSG) too is without a regular Director General for nearly six months.
• The Director General of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is given in charge of heading the NSG.
• The lone research and training organisation for the police forces of the country, the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), too, is functioning without a regular Director General.

What are the outcomes of this?

• These central force organisations play a pivotal role in maintaining India’s internal security.

• The BSF is the second largest force in the country after the CRPF.
• It is unfair to give additional charge of another organisation (CRPF) when BSF is already combating militants in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.
• NSG comes into action in time of crisis like 2008 Mumbai attacks & it is entrusted with the responsibility of providing security to certain high-risk personalities.
• This kind of additional charge has an adverse impact on the efficiency of these forces.
• Officers holding provisional charge will seek to avoid taking major policy decisions and prefer to leave such matters to the next person in charge.
• Moreover the heads of these organisations are appointed only when they are left with just a few months or a year to retire.
• So there is little they can do within their short tenures.

What can be done now?

• It is important that right kind of officers with the required skill and experience should be appointed in the right time.
• The government could consider announcing the next chief of these organisations at least 3 months in advance with a minimum tenure of 2 years or till superannuation, whichever is later.
• Preferably, those considered for these posts should be from among the officers who have served in these organisations earlier.
•  A panel of officers cleared by the Union Public Service Commission could be always kept ready and the officers for the top posts could be chosen from this panel.
• This will go a long way in speeding up decisions and enhancing the efficiency of these forces.

Source: The Hindu