Police officers' transfer

Sir, - The recent transfers of police officers of Tamil Nadu to Central Government control obviously appear to be politically motivated. The move does not serve any public interest and deserves condemnation. A needless Centre-State confrontation has been provoked. Officers of all-India services have the Presidential sanction and Constitutional guarantee. There are norms of procedure laid down for transfers between the Centre and the State, which should be strictly adhered to.

Transfer of officers was done in the past with due consideration to family problems like education of children, etc. Today transfer from post to post is deemed as a punishment for having worked under a rival regime.

Officers are not pawns in the chess board of politics. They are public servants and not political stooges. If a lot of time is wasted on this type of administrative exercise, public interest will suffer, tarnishing the image of the Government. If there have been administrative lapses on the part of the officers, there are means and ways of dealing with them appropriately in accordance with service conditions and regulations. There is no need to resort to this tossing game.

All-India services were created with the specific objective of guaranteeing the best of bureaucratic skill in governing the country's administration for the welfare of the people. Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and Rajaji nurtured the services and gave them a distinct stamp of dignity, authority and honour. Let the political parties which have secured the mandate to rule at the Centre and in the States reaffirm their dedication to good governance without provoking unnecessary confrontations.

K. Radhakrishnan,

DGP (retd.), Chennai

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