NT Reporter Panaji
Failure by the government to expedite the process for filling six backlog vacancies of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP), reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC), has led to eligible officers missing out on promotion opportunities after their vigilance clearance certificates expired on July 7, 2025.
Five police inspectors belonging to ST and one belonging to SC category have been affected. The Goa Public Service Commission (GPSC) had returned the file to the Personnel Department after a report appeared in The Navhind Times on July 2, but the government failed to restart the process.
According to documents accessed by The Navhind Times, the Superintendent of Police, PHQ, Panaji had sent the proposal to the Under Secretary (Home), Porvorim, on March 15, 2024, to fill 5 ST and 1 SC reserved posts. The Personnel Department received the proposal on August 8, 2024.
Following protocol, the government sent the proposal to the GPSC, which then sought vigilance clearance for the eligible officers from the Police Department. The first vigilance clearances expired in September 2024, as the promotion process did not proceed. A second vigilance clearance was sought in January 2025, but it too expired on July 7, 2025, without action from the government.
Now, the government is seeking fresh verification of eligible candidates, despite having already completed the process in March 2024.
In a 2010 Supreme Court judgment in the Union of India and others versus Gopal Meena and others case, the court highlighted the difference between special drives for backlog vacancies and regular promotions, stressing the need to fill such vacancies separately.
The Goa Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has repeatedly advised the government to conduct a special drive. On January 3, 2025, it sent a letter to the Under Secretary (Personnel), urging the government to fill five DySP backlog vacancies reserved for STs as per the SC judgment. The Commission also requested an action-taken report.
