ISLAMABAD: According to the constitution, police is a provincial subject but the federal bureaucracy not only fills 60 per cent of all senior police posts but according to police officials, those not recruited through the Civil Services of Pakistan (CSP) are also prevented from reaching Grade-19.

Police officials are recruited through two streams, one is the CSS stream through which officers are directly inducted as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) at Grade-17 and the second are known as provincial officials, recruited as Assistant Sub-inspectors at Grade-9 and Constables at Grade-5.

According to data collected from the police and the establishment, there are a total of 716 posts for police officers from Grade 18-22 among all the four provinces and Islamabad.

According to the Police Services of Pakistan (PSP) Rules 1985, the PSP has a 60 per centshare and fills 430 seats, while 40 per cent, 286 seats are reserved for the provincial officials who reach grade 18 after years of service and step by step promotion.

Similarly, there are some 1,500 posts for Grade-17 officers, either as ASP for those inducted at this rank through CSS or Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) for those who reach this level through promotions. Police officials told Dawn that CSS stream officers receive 7 per cent of these seats at Grade-17 level.

However at higher seniority ranks their quotas swell, they are deputed to 70 per cent posts at Grade-18, 80 per cent posts at Grade19, 90 per cent posts at Grade-20 and 100 per cent at Grade-21 and Grade-22.

A police of ficial told Dawn that 160 officers from the provincial cadre are short but bureaucracy prevents these posts from being filled. `CSS officers hold a monopoly over these posts, which hampers the promotion of provincial officers,` he said.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Zafar Khan told Dawn that `Unfortunately, the provinces do not have rules for the promotion of police officers to ranks beyond Grade-18, they have to be put in the PSP cadre for further promotion.

According to the procedure for changingcadres, the provincial police of ficers of Grade18 must submit a written request to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) office. The of ficial said that this application is then sent to the home secretary, followed by the establishment division.

`While the applicant has to provide the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) and the authorities only have to sign the application, the whole process is delayed for years without reason,` the DIG said.

Such delays, the official said, deprive provincial officers of promotion from Grade-18 to 19 for years.

According to the rules, the provincial officers have first right over the post, followed by direct inductees, the official said.

He added that their seniority should also be counted from the day the post became vacant rather than the day the notification was issued.

DIG Khan said that as a result provincial police officers do not reach ranks beyond Deputy Inspector of General of Police.

According to NFC award only 44 percent of federal taxes could be utilized by the centre and remaining by the four provinces.

A senior police official said that provinces create posts for officers and give them salaries from their budget but the federal of ficers take 60 per cent of these senior posts.