The Mumbai Police has yet to transfer dozens of Police Sub-Inspectors (PSIs) and Assistant Police Inspectors (APIs) who have remained in the same postings for nearly four years, despite clear Election Commission (EC) guidelines mandating rotation to ensure neutrality
Officers posted across several police stations say they have been “waiting for months” for the transfer list. File pic/Shadab Khan
As Mumbai moves into a politically charged season ahead of the BMC elections, a quiet but significant administrative lapse has begun drawing scrutiny. The Mumbai Police has yet to transfer dozens of Police Sub-Inspectors (PSIs) and Assistant Police Inspectors (APIs) who have remained in the same postings for nearly four years, despite clear Election Commission (EC) guidelines mandating rotation to ensure neutrality.
Many of these officers belong to training batches 118, 119 and 120, recruited between 2019 and 2021, and have not been transferred even once since joining their current stations. The EC rule is explicit; any police or revenue officer posted in the same jurisdiction for more than three years must be shifted before elections. Mumbai Police complied with this requirement at senior levels before the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, smoothly transferring officers from the ranks of police inspector up to deputy commissioner of police. But at the sub-inspector level, the rotation process has stalled.
Officers posted across several police stations say they have been “waiting for months” for the transfer list, even as the Model Code of Conduct is expected soon. Some believe the delay is linked to the upcoming civic polls, where PSIs and APIs play a frontline role in polling, bandobast, and on-ground enforcement. Others point to an internal imbalance, while senior officers were shifted promptly for two major elections, lower-ranked officers have been left in uncertainty. Several sub-inspectors said this has affected morale.
“Rotation is part of our system. When it doesn’t happen for years, it raises questions,” said an officer from the western suburbs who has completed more than four and a half years at the same police station. Another PSI added, “It’s like we’ve been forgotten. Our transfers are in limbo. There are nearly 700 to 800 officers from my batch waiting for movement.”
The Maharashtra Police Act prescribes a normal tenure of two years at a police station or branch for officers in PSI, API, and PI ranks. However, a senior IPS officer told mid-day that those rules are interpreted differently for new recruits. “The first two years of a PSI’s service are treated as training or probation. If those years are considered training, then the subsequent two years count as regular service, meaning there is no delay.
Transfers will happen once instructions come from higher authorities,” the officer said. He added that the Mumbai Police currently has over 1000 vacancies at the sub-inspector level. “Transfers are not impossible. We are awaiting orders before initiating the process,” he said.
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