Patna, Aug. 6: Heads have started rolling within a week of chief minister Nitish Kumar’s dressing down to top police officials at a high-level meeting held on July 28 to review the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

The state police headquarters issued directives on Friday removing 56 station house officers (SHOs), including six circle inspectors, from field duty. The action follows appraisal of their performance, which was found to be dissatisfactory.

All the six circle inspectors and 50 SHOs posted in 19 districts have been shifted either to the criminal investigation department (CID) or the special branch at the state police headquarters.

The posting in the CID or special branch is considered as “punishment”.

The highest numbers of SHOs were removed from Siwan (seven) followed by Saran (five) and Patna (four). Four officers each from Muzaffarpur, Supaul, Madhubani, Samastipur and East Champaran, three each from Darbhanga, Sheohar and Gopalganj and one each from Jehanabad and West Champaran and two police districts Bagaha and Banka were also shifted.

However, no action has been taken against any police officer posted in 21 districts (there are 40 police districts in Bihar) particularly in Naxalite-affected areas. The districts from where no officer has been transferred include Nalanda, Rohtas, Vaishali, Munger, Bhojpur, Gaya, Buxar, Nawada, Aurangabad, Purnea, Araria, Sitamarhi and Aurangabad.

The director-general of police (DGP) has already announced that departmental proceedings would be initiated against non-performing officers. “The message is loud and clear, perform or perish,” the DGP had told the police officers after the review of the law and order last week.

The DGP had sought appraisal reports from all the range deputy inspectors-general (DIGs) on performance of the SHOs, circle inspectors and the deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) under their jurisdiction. The DIGs were asked to identity four to eight SHOs in every district, who have failed to live up to the expectations of the bosses.

The DIGs were told to submit the appraisal reports by August 3. “The SHOs and circle inspectors have been removed from field duty on the basis of reports submitted by the range DIGs,” DGP Neel Mani said.

The DGP said departmental proceedings would be initiated against non-performers before August 15. “Laxity on the part of any police officer posted in field will not be tolerated,” he told The Telegraph over phone.

DSPs or sub-divisional police officers (SDPOs) are next to face the ire of the top brass of the state police administration for their failure to curb crime. “The pendency of the cases has gone up alarmingly in the past six months,” a police officer said.

Sources in the state police headquarters said deputy superintendents of police posted in field would also be removed after the appraisal of their performance report. “The assessment of the performance of the DSP-rank officers is being done. Once the report is complete, it will be sent to the home department for necessary action, a senior police officer said.

Earlier, the police headquarters had found the performance of 12 DSPs to be dissatisfactory. The appraisal report of these officers was submitted to the home department in March. However, no action has been initiated against them.