The RPF has set up six committees, each comprising three chief security commissioners (CSCs), to make a list of all personnel who have either attained or are about to attain 55 years of age or have completed 30 years of service.
In what might not be a good news for the millions who commute on trains every day, a recent development within the ranks of the 75,000-strong Railway Protection Force has set the cat among the pigeons in the force, primarily tasked with ensuring passengers' safety.
The RPF has set up six committees, each comprising three chief security commissioners (CSCs), to make a list of all personnel who have either attained or are about to attain 55 years of age or have completed 30 years of service. CSCs are inspector-general or deputy inspector-general rank officers who head the RPF at respective railway zones and have anything about 3,000 personnel under them.
The list is part of the RPF's drive to find out personnel who can be compulsorily retired in case their work is not up to the tough parameters set down for a paramilitary force. The reasoning behind the drive is a ruling of the Supreme Court order in 2001 which stated that "whenever the services of a public servant are no longer useful to the general administration, the officer can be compulsorily retired for the sake of public interest."
The SC order also observed that "for better administration, it is necessary to chop off dead wood, but the order of compulsory retirement can be passed after having due regard to the entire service record of the officer". As part of the compulsory retirement, adverse entries made against an RPF personnel in his confidential record will be taken into consideration.
The entire length and breadth of the Railways has been divided into six units for this exercise, said officials. Western, Central and South-Western Railways are in one group. The committees have been given three months to complete the entire exercise. Sources said that several zones have already given their list of personnel who have attained 55 years of age or have completed 30 years of services.
"It keeps everyone on tenterhooks. This, in turn, creates inefficiency within the ranks for a temporary period. That is not good for commuters," said an official privy to the development. He, however, admitted that "the fact remains that having a young fighting-fit RPF is the only way to ensure passengers are better protected."
Currently about 2,300 trains on vulnerable routes are escorted by the RPF. Protecting 7,000 stations is also the RPF's mandate.
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