Seeks Centre’s intervention, says resolution an encroachment on executive authority
S Gopal Puri
Shimla:
The escalating face-off between Himachal Pradesh PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh and the state’s top police leadership has reached the Union Home Ministry (MHA), with a Shimla-based citizen accusing the Himachal IPS Association of “institutional insubordination” and seeking decisive action to uphold civilian supremacy.
In a strongly worded complaint addressed to the MHA, Captain Atul Sharma has challenged the resolution passed by the IPS Association (Himachal Pradesh) on January 14, describing it as a “serious breach of service discipline and a direct challenge to the authority of a constitutionally elected government”.
Atul Sharma has urged the Centre to treat the episode not as an internal grievance but as a matter with wider constitutional and administrative implications.
Referring to the resolution, Sharma has argued that the association’s call to the state government “not to post any IPS officer” with a serving cabinet minister amounts to an attempt by a uniformed service to dictate terms to the political executive. Such conduct, he has written, raises a fundamental question of governance: whether the state is run by the elected cabinet or by service associations acting collectively.
In his letter, Sharma has asserted that officers of the All India Services swear allegiance to the Constitution and not to any association, and that invoking “institutional hurt” as a basis for refusing to discharge official duties amounts to administrative pressure bordering on indiscipline. He has cited statutory restrictions governing police associations, arguing that collective actions which interfere with executive functioning violate both service conduct rules and the spirit of constitutional governance.
The complainant has called for show-cause notices to the association’s office-bearers, formal recording of “gross indiscipline” in the service records of those who endorsed the resolution, and a clear reiteration by the Centre that civil authority must prevail over uniformed services.
The IPS Association, in its January 14 resolution, expressed “deep anguish and serious concern” over the minister’s public remarks which, it said, “tended to create an artificial divide between Himachali and non-Himachali officers”. Emphasising that the All India Services are a constitutional mechanism to promote national unity and impartial administration, the association said questioning officers’ intent or legitimacy on the basis of origin was factually incorrect and deeply demoralising.
The resolution warned that such statements could damage morale, erode trust within the police force, weaken institutional cohesion and adversely affect governance. While reiterating its commitment to serve the people of Himachal Pradesh with “full dedication, integrity and constitutional loyalty”, the association urged the government not to post any IPS officer with the minister and to ensure that similar statements were not repeated in future.
