Govt creates about 24K deputation reserve pool in CAPFs, Assam Rifles

New Delhi: The Union government has sanctioned the creation of a 24,000-personnel deputation reserve within the existing manpower of the five central armed police forces and Assam Rifles in a bid to ensure better promotion avenues, fresh recruitment of personnel and ensuring quality manpower for a variety of internal security tasks.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an order on Tuesday for creation of a 23,958 'deputation reserve' in the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF, SSB and Assam Rifles.

These five central armed police forces (CAPFs) apart from the Assam Rifles are deployed for undertaking various internal security duties like counter-terrorist operations, border guarding and conduct of elections and maintenance of law and order across the country.

They are also the primary manpower feeders of various specialised deputationist organisations like the Special Protection Group (SPG), the National Security Guard (NSG), the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Intelligence Bureau (IB) among others. These agencies function under the MHA which is responsible for India's internal security.

Deputation reserves are intended to serve as substitutes for regular duty posts in the event of service officers (holding these duty posts) being temporarily away from their cadre on deputation to any other organisation.

Officers holding the posts under such reserves perform regular functions of the posts against which they are posted as substitutes and they are only temporary replacements for regular cadre officers who are currently away and as such the reserve posts do not represent net additions to the cadre, according to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) guidelines.

"This is for the first time that the MHA has created a deputation reserve in the CAPFs and the Assam Rifles. It will help in ensuring that the officers and personnel of these forces are able to go on deputation, enhance their knowledge and skills in a streamlined and institutionalised manner," retired BSF Inspector General (IG) Ajai Singh told PTI.

A senior CAPF officer said the creation of a deputation reserve will allow enhanced promotion avenues to the personnel of these forces who undertake extremely hard duties in remote areas and conflict zones.

"Those personnel who are eligible for promotion but are facing a delay in their rank upgrade as there is no vacancy, can now be appointed to the higher post as someone has gone on deputation under the sanctioned quota," he said.

Requesting anonymity, the CAPF officer said, the government may also enhance the hiring of fresh manpower in these forces as the deputation reserve has to be exhausted by these forces and a certain manpower has to be sent on deputation every year.

Personnel and officers from these forces have been going on deputation but it was in an ad-hoc and irregular manner till now. This will now be done in a proper manner as notified by the MHA, a senior CRPF officer said.

The organisations who seek deputation from these forces will also get a constant supply of deputationist officials as compared to the current times when there arises a shortage of quality personnel to be sent to specialised forces in the counter-terrorist and disaster rescue domain like the NSG and the NDRF respectively, apart from others.

The maximum of the 'deputation reserve' posts at 6,733 have been created in the Border Security Force that has a strength of about 2.65 lakh personnel followed by the Central Reserve Police Force at 5,765 (total strength 3.25 lakh), Indo-Tibetan Border Police at 4,764 (about 90,000 in strength), Sashastra Seema Bal 2,669 (about 80,000 staffers), Central Industrial Security Force at 2,298 (1.80 lakh in strength) and Assam Rifles at 1,729 (about 65,000 in strength).