DATE OF BIRTH HAUNTS CRPF AND BSF CHIEFS

10 Feb 2010

DATE OF BIRTH HAUNTS CRPF, BSF CHIEFS

By R Rajagopalan

NEW DELHI: Two brothers heading two central police organisations need not create a controversy, but an embarrassing lie that remained buried all past 37 years since they joined the IPS cadre in 1973 has caught up them now. One of them may even lose the job and pension for furnishing wrong date of birth.

The Home Ministry officials are embarrassed that nobody bothered to double-check before releasing the bio-data of Vikram Srivastava, a UP cadre IPS officer, on his appointment as the Director General (DG) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). He was earlier DG of ITBO, another central police organisation.

The unsavoury truth came to light on another officer challenging the new posting of Vikram, though on an altogether different ground that it is not proper to let the two central forces be headed by brothers and that it smacks of favouritism as only six months ago on August 1 Vikram's elder brother Raman, a Kerala cadre IPS officer, was made the DG of the Border Security Force (BSF). Raman was earlier the special secretary (security) in the Home Ministry.

Everyone knew Vikram and Raman are real brothers. The Home Ministry officials were, however, in for a shock on checking their dates of birth. Official records show Raman Srivastava born on October 24, 1951 while the date of birth of Vikram Srivastava is March 18, 1952.

Two brothers born with a gap of less than five months is impossible but this factor never came to notice all these years, emerging only when Raman and Vikram are on the last leg of their career.

The ministry officials checked if wrong dates had been entered in the records, but those acquainted with the government's service rules say even that will not let off the brother whose date of birth is wrong as he should have got it corrected instead of letting it remain unchanged for all these years.

The officials have quietly sought advice of Home Minister P Chidambaram as the service rules provide for the extreme punishment up to dismissal from service and denial of pension for taking up government employment with false information.

Chidambaram has to decide whether the explanation be sought from both brothers and asked to establish their dates of birth and what punishment be imposed on one who provided the false date of birth at the time of employment. Until he takes the decision, officials plead not to play up the controversy as they point out that it will have an adverse demoralising impact on the two police organisations that the two brothers head are engaged in the sensitive fight against terrorists and Maoists.

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