Maharashtra DGP Sanjay Pandey (PTI) MAHARASHTRA DIRECTOR General of Police (DGP) Sanjay Pandey in his affidavit filed before MAT regarding a December transfer order of 187 Mumbai police officers has said that the shortage faced by Mumbai city would be merely of 65 Police Sub Inspectors (PSI) that could be replenished from a batch of new trainees at the Maharashtra Police Academy (MPA).
Police officers who had not been relieved by Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale following the transfer order by DGP had approached the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) seeking transfer earlier this month. Nagrale had earlier filed an affidavit that no substitutes were provided for the officers who were transferred.
Following this, MAT had asked Pandey to file an affidavit. In its latest hearing, MAT asked the DGP, the Mumbai Commissioner and the Additional Chief Secretary (home) to resolve the matter.
In his affidavit filed on Monday, a copy of which The Indian Express has seen, Pandey said that during a meeting held on November 9 last year regarding the transfer of the officers, in which the Mumbai Police Commissioner was present, no issues about manpower were raised.
He added that as many as 125 PSIs had been posted in Mumbai between July 2021 and January 2022 by way of promotion from the post of police constabulary. “Thus, there is a minimal difference of only 62 PSIs between the incoming and outgoing PSIs in Mumbai city,” the affidavit read.
It provided a chart to show that even if the 187 officers were transferred, there would be no “significant reduction in the PSIs’ strength in Mumbai city”. The chart showed that while in June 2019 there were 2,392 PSIs in the city, in July 2020 there were 1,840, in July 2021 there were 2,385 PSIs while the number of PSIs, if the transfer order was relieved, was 2,160.
The state police chief added in his affidavit that, “ .. the difference of 62 PSIs after relieving these PSI on transfers from Mumbai would be replenished from the following batches of PSIs in the near future.” The affidavit mentions that 322 PSIs undergoing training at Nashik Maharashtra Police Academy (MPA) would be ready to join in March while 387 would be ready in May/June.
The affidavit further mentions that while the transfer order issued in December says that the officers should be relieved immediately, “still Mumbai city, a big and vital Police Commissionerate…is at a liberty to relieve the PSI in phases. However, he is required to implement the order of the PEB 2.”
The affidavit adds that the transfers were done “purely considering the well being of the police personnel, this so, because, if they are given postings, as per their choices, as far as possible they will carry out their duties with enthusiasm.”
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