The Prime Minister’s Office has reportedly approved the proposal to allow Captain and Major-rank defence officers to sit for limited departmental examination to join the Indian Police Service to bridge the shortage of IPS officers. The UPSC will hold the examination from 2012.
This move of PMO has been slammed by some Muslim personalities including Maulana Jalaluddin Umari, Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, Editor Milli Gazette, etc. They claim that the move would further lower the count of Muslims in IPS. They argued that already the percentage of Muslims in armed forces and at the level of Deputy Superintendents of Police are low, and allowing only certain level officers would further plummet the percentage of Muslims in IPS. They said the decision is against Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution of India which prohibits state discrimination and guarantees right to equality in employment respectively. The Muslim leaders have called for the repeal of the orders.