Chennai, PMK president Dr Anbumani Ramadoss on Monday urged the Tamil Nadu government to resolve decades-old grievances of police personnel regarding delayed promotions and pay disparities.
Instead of taking fair policy decisions to address police promotion issues, the Tamil Nadu government was actively pursuing court cases for every dispute, leaving thousands of police personnel without promotions, he claimed in a statement.
“The government, which came to power promising justice and relief to all affected police personnel, was unfairly delaying action without taking concrete steps,” he alleged.
“The history of injustice – caused by mistakes made by past and present administrations in taking policy decisions, and a lack of interest in rectifying them – began in 1994 and has continued for over 30 years,” he alleged, adding, “Because justice was not served to Sub-Inspectors affected three decades ago, subsequent batches of police personnel have also been denied justice and successive governments have shown no interest in addressing their plight.”
He said in 1994–95, a notification was issued to recruit 1,198 SIs to the Tamil Nadu Police, and candidates were selected through a competitive exam. Appointment orders were issued to 500 candidates in 1996 and 600 in 1997. “However, the remaining 98 candidates were not issued appointment orders.”
“Meanwhile, the next recruitment notification was issued, and 968 SIs were appointed in 1998–99,” he said, adding, “Following representations in the Legislative Assembly by parties, including the PMK regarding the non-issuance of orders to the 98 candidates, they were finally given appointment orders on May 22, 2000. However, the root cause of the current dispute is that they were not granted seniority backdated to 1994–95”.
Alleging that the delay in promotions was not due to any fault of the police officers, but rather the government’s mistake, Anbumani said, “Had all 1,198 SIs selected in 1994–95 been issued appointment orders in a single phase or given uniform seniority, this issue would not have arisen, and two generations of officers would not have suffered.”
“Similarly, while a 20 per cent reservation is provided for candidates who studied in Tamil medium in police recruitment, police personnel competing under the 20 per cent departmental quota for SI posts are denied this reservation,” he alleged.
Stating that disparities also exist in allowances, the PMK leader said, “While police personnel from constables to inspectors receive special pay, night duty allowances, and risk allowances, these are denied to fingerprint experts working in the same department.”
Stating that the Tamil Nadu government can resolve all these police grievances in a single day, Anbumani said, “I urge the state government to constitute a special committee, obtain a report within one month, and resolve all grievances, including promotions and allowances for police personnel.”
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