Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (ANK/SP)

Bengaluru, Feb 1: IPS (Karnataka) Association had organized a farewell function for six IPS officers from the state who retired recently, on January 31 at Sigma Hall opposite Bangalore Club.

In a letter written to the said association, IGP and additional commandant general home guards, and ex-officio additional director, civil defence, Bengaluru, D Roopa, who was at loggerheads with Satyanarayana Rao when she was deputy inspector general (prisons) and he was the director general of police and inspector general of prisons after she filed reports about irregularities in the prison and accused Rao of being corrupt, said that she was protesting against arranging farewell to Satyanarayana Rao. She hastened to clarify that she was doing this not on account of any personal rivalry but because of the fact that she stands by the cause of IPS cadre officers.

D Roopa

Through the letter, she has accused Rao of trying to scuttle powers and functions of IPS cadre post, duly pointing out that although the DIG cadre post which she held was to report to DG/IG of prisons, Rao asked her to route files through AIG Prisons. "AIG prisons happens to be a person who joined the department as police sub inspector in 1983. Have you ever seen a person rising to the post of AIG Prisons from being a PSI? Let alone AIG, are there instances of PSIs becoming SP? The post of AIG was created by prison officials by using ulterior methods, and then claiming that AIG is above DIG.

"This person served only for three years as DIG Prisons before becoming AIG Prisons. The minimum service a person in IPS cadre holding DIG position has to put in happens to be four years to even become eligible for this promotion. Rao wanted IPS cadre officers to report to this post. When I approached him by attracting his attention to the fact that he was undermining the authority of IPS cadre post, he did not do anything. If I report to a departmental person, successive IPS cadre officers joining the service will suffer, and I explained this thing to Rao. Even among IAS officers, people report to IAS bosses and not to departmental pesons. I narrated these things too, but Rao, for reasons best known to him, chose to ignore my representations," she explained.

As per the organizational chart of prisons department of Karnataka too the post of the DIG and AIG are shown to be equivalent.

Roopa resented the fact that an IPS forum is felicitating Rao who took anti-IPS stand. She said that the agony she went through during the period she worked under Rao is hard to explain in words. She reiterated that as against the standing government order, Rao wanted her to report to AIG Prisons, overriding her justifiable objections and plausible reasoning.