Discriminatory! IPS officer returns vehicle to authorities, know why

A senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from Haryana has approached the state government, claiming that there is "discriminatory and selective" allotment of official vehicles to IPS officers in the state, less than two weeks after he returned his official car to the state police department in the hopes of receiving a vehicle as per his entitlement. IGP Y Puran Kumar urged state Chief Secretary TVSN Prasad to look into allocating "staff cars and operational vehicles" to the state's IPS officer in a letter dated April 14, this year.

Who is Y. Puran Kumar?

Kumar, an Inspector General of Police (IGP) (Telecommunications) in Haryana, was recruited into the IPS in 2001. In addition, Kumar is in charge of the state police's integrated emergency response support system (ERSS), Dial-112. He notified the authorities that he received a 2017 model Honda City after taking over the IGP telecommunications and emergency response support system duties in November 2023.

What's the situation?

According to Kumar,  he informed the concerned police department officers about the situation. But he was informed by a senior officer that "giving him a new car would cause some officers heartburn." Kumar claims that on March 22 of this year, he personally brought the issue to the attention of the state DGP and asked to be assigned a new car in accordance with his entitlement and rules. The IPS officer brought up the fact that the car he was given was "not in very good shape" and was about seven years old. According to sources, the ADGP rank officer who preceded Kumar in the police department's telecommunications wing was given a brand-new Toyota Innova Crysta.

Kumar's proposal

Kumar proposed investigating whether some police were receiving new cars on a regular basis in a letter to the DGP. Additionally, he suggested that the laws governing the assignment of multiple operational vehicles to "officers with additional charges" be reviewed. He also proposed changing the regulations of the Haryana Police Act 2007 governing the distribution of police department staff vehicles such that each IPS officer would receive a new car based on their turn and seniority.

Further in the matter

Not only should the government investigate whether any IPS officers are breaking the law by using Mahindra XUV700, Toyota Innova, or Tata Safari vehicles as staff cars, but it should also look into "the utilization of surplus additional vehicles, if any." To prevent potential heartburn among IPS officers, Y. Puran Kumar has asked the government to establish regulations and procedures to rationalize the allocation of staff cars and operational vehicles to them.  The media secretary for the Haryana chief minister, Praveen Attrey, stated that this is an administrative matter and that the relevant authorities will conduct an investigation to ascertain the legitimacy of the claims.