Selection of 757 cops to be cancelled today

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The police authorities will today cancel the selection of 757 sub-inspectors (SIs) and sergeants recruited through gross irregularities including bribery, political influence and nepotism in the last days of the immediate past BNP-led four-party rule.

“I hope an order cancelling the selections will be issued tomorrow,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nur Mohammad told The Daily Star yesterday, confirming the decision taken in the light of the findings of a recent probe.

Though the result was published last October, the authorities did not hand the new recruits appointment letters or start their training.

They will soon issue a circular for fresh recruitment to the posts–496 male SIs, 41 female SIs and 220 sergeants. “We’ll complete the recruitment in two or three months,” said the IGP.

Meantime, several police officers have called for the caretaker government to free the police administration of those who were appointed on political consideration and through underhand dealings.

They observed that rampant politicisation through appointments, promotions and postings during the five years of the coalition government has weakened the police administration.

They also demanded that the policemen, whose training was cut short and who were posted to the field hurriedly ‘to serve the interest of the previous government’, are sent to complete the full length of training.

After noticing irregularities in the selection of the 757 SIs and sergeants, the police headquarters recently [during the caretaker government rule] formed a committee headed by a senior officer to probe the recruitment process.

The committee and an intelligence agency found that merit was the least consideration while political affiliations and bribery were the key criteria for the selection.

“Money played a big role,” IGP Nur Mohammad told The Daily Star, talking about irregularities in the selection.

Besides, political influence was used and grace marks were given to bring in certain candidates, he said.

“In several cases, district quotas were not maintained and the number of recruits was much higher than the posts mentioned in the circulars. We take it as a big irregularity,” said the IGP.

A senior police officer said many of the candidates gave bribes between Tk 3 lakh and 5 lakh to be chosen for the posts.

After the probe report unearthed the irregularities, the authorities had decided to cancel the selections and start the process anew.

Asked about the irregularities, member secretary of the selection committee Rafiqul Islam told The Daily Star over telephone last night: “No politicisation took place as long as the matter was with us.”

When this correspondent referred to the IGP’s statement about the irregularities, he just said, “It may happen somewhere else.”

Head of the selection committee was made officer on special duty after the four-party coalition government handed over power.

Earlier in the second half of 2005, the police administration reduced the training period for the assistant superintendents of police (ASPs) to nine months from one year, for the SIs to six months from one year and for constables to four months from six by shortening the syllabus. They later cut down the field-level training for the ASPs as well to three months from six months.

The authorities had reduced the length of training for some 3,600 ASPs, SIs and constables allegedly to make sure they work on the field during the next general election.

In another instance, an advertisement was made for recruitment of 786 SIs but later 850 were recruited at the start of 2006.

About 90 percent of those recruits were learnt to have been workers of the BNP, its student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and Jamaat-e-Islami’s student front Islami Chhatra Shibir and relatives of the then ruling coalition men.

Only 322 of them passed the written test and an additional mark of 20 had to be awarded to bring them in. As many of the favoured ones still failed to qualify, a new subject called ‘aptitude test’ was introduced where the candidates with allegiance to BNP and Jamaat were given highest marks and finally, selected.

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