Uttar Pradesh has become notorious amongst states for transferring officers within less than one year or two years of their posting. The Samajwadi Party, which has sparked a nationwide furore over the suspension of Greater Nodia SDM Durga Shakti Nagpal, is only following the footsteps of the Mayawati-led BSP government.
Successive governments are to blame for the plight of the bureaucrats and police officers as far as official figures available with the Central government show.
In 2010, as many as 122 district SPs were transferred within one year in UP alone out of an all-India figure of 259. The same year, 30 DIGs were also transferred within one year in the same state. The same year, 36 district SPs and 10 DIGs were transferred out before they could complete two years in their given charge.
In 2009 again, Uttar Pradesh was once again way ahead of all other states ordering transfers of 136 district SPs within one year and effecting a record of 256 transfers of district SPs in a span of less than two years. The same year, 38 DIGs were transferred in less than a year and 73 others before they could complete two years. The state government, however, has not made figures available for the year 2011.
Incidentally, no other state has crossed the 100-mark in transferring police officers each year. More than a dozen states have reported transfers of less than 10 police officers every year, as per the data complied by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). In states like Kerala and West Bengal, barely three police officers have been transferred each year with Union Territories reporting nil.
The Supreme Court order on police reforms has made it mandatory for police service officers to have a minimum fixed tenure of two years at certain critical posts like district heads. However, many states are lagging behind in implementing the police reforms which are also aimed at insulating the officers from political interference.