- (1.) BY this writ petition, the petitioner who is serving as Superintendent of Police (Communication), Assam Police Radio Organisation, Message Control Centre, Dispur, is seeking for a direction to the respondents, inter-alia, to initiate steps for declaring the Assam Police Tele-communication Service (APTS) to which the petitioner belongs, as equivalent in status and responsibility to that of the Assam Police Service(APS) for the purpose of consideration for promotion to Indian Police Service.
(2.) THE petitioner entered service as Deputy Superintendent of Police (Communication) in the Assam Police Radio Organisation in the Assam Police Tele-Communication Service Cadre as a direct recruit through the Assam Public Service Commission w.e.f. 2.5.1986. Subsequently, the petitioner was promoted to the senior scale of APTS cadre w.e.f. 26.8.1991 and was confirmed vide order dated 21.3.1994. Subsequently, the petitioner was posted as Superintendent of Police( Communication) vide Order No. HMA 456/83/76 dated 18.12.1998 and till date, the petitioner is continuing in the said post. THE petitioner also states that he was awarded PH.D. degree for his thesis on "Radio Frequency Resonance of Plasma" in the year 2001 by the Gauhati University. THE petitioner also states that prior to joining the APRO he had served as a teacher in a higher secondary school as well as an Engineering Assistant in All India Radio and also in the Television Rely Centre, Tezpur and thereafter, as Inspector (OG), Customs and Central Excise, Tezpur. The main contention of the petitioner in this writ petition is that as per relevant provisions of the Indian Police Service (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1955, hereinafter referred to as IPS Regulations, members of the principal State Police service are eligible for nomination for appointment to Indian Police Service. As per Regulation 2(j) (ii) of the IPS Regulations, the State police service means: "the principal police service of a state, a member of which normally holds charge of a sub-division of a district for purpose of police administration and includes any other duly constituted police service functioning in a state which is declared by the State Government to be equivalent thereto." It has been further provided under Regulation 5(3) of the IPS Regulations that:- "the Committee shall not consider the cases of the members of the state police service who have attained the age of 54 years on the first day of January of the year for which the select list is prepared." Further, it has been provided in Regulation 5(2) that :- " the committee shall consider for inclusion in the said list the cases of members of the state police service in the order of seniority in that service of a number which is equal to three times the number referred in sub- regulation (1). Provided also that the committee shall not consider the case of a member of the state police service unless on the first day of January of the year for which the select list is prepared he is substantive in the state police service and has completed not less than eight years of continuous service (whether officiating or substantive) in the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police or in any other post or post declared equivalent thereto by the State Government." Thus, according to the petitioner, in view of the above provisions of the regulations quoted above, a candidate has to be a member of the principal police service and any other duly constituted police service functioning in the State which has been declared by the State Government to be equivalent thereto, not holding a post lower than that of a DSP or in any other post or posts declared equivalent thereto by the State Government and the candidate has to complete not less than eight years of continuous service in the said post of DSP or any other post or posts declared equivalent thereto by the State Government. The contention of the petitioner is that even though the petitioner fulfills all the qualifications necessary for being eligible to be considered for nomination to the IPS, since he has served in the post of DSP and SP in the Assam Police Radio Organisation for more than 24 years, however, since the Assam Police Telecommunication Service is not treated as being equivalent to the principal State police service i.e. APS, the case of the petitioner could not be considered for nomination to IPS. Therefore, unless the State Government declares the APTS as being equivalent to APS, the case of the petitioner for nomination to IPS can never be considered.
(3.) IN view of the above position, the petitioner submitted a representation to the respondent No.2 on 17.3.2010 to take necessary steps for declaring APTS as equivalent in rank and status to that of members belonging to the principal service so as to enable him and other similarly situated persons in APTS to tender their names for nomination for IPS as per the IPS Regulations. Having received no response to the aforesaid representation, the petitioner again submitted another representation on 17.5.2010. However, the same had not been attended to. It is the case of the petitioner that in pursuance of the aforesaid regulation of the IPS, few other states viz. Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir have declared their respective services in the police Telecommunication units as equivalent to the State Police service. Consequently, the members of the telecommunication service in those states have become eligible for nomination to IPS under the relevant provisions of IPS Regulations. In this regard, the petitioner has drawn attention of this Court to Government Order issued by the State of Kerala under GO. Ms No.651/79/GAD dated Trivandrum 15.12.1979 declaring that service in the telecommunication unit of the State police shall be equivalent to the principal police service in the State. By the said order, the Government of Kerala declared under Regulation 5 of the IPS Regulations that the post of DSP and above in the Telecommunication Unit will be equivalent in status and responsibility to that of the DSP of the principal police service. (Annexure-A/3 to the writ petition). The petitioner has also produced a document before this Court at the time of hearing which shows that officers from the telecommunication services have been appointed as IPS officers in the State of Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, a copy of which is placed on record and marked as "Document-X".;