Ranchi, Dec. 14: The chief minister today ordered the suspension of an IPS officer over charges of shortlisting ineligible candidates for the post of police constables.

The move follows home minister Sudesh Mahto?s recommendation yesterday that former Chatra superintendent of police C.P. Kiran should be suspended for his faulty selection of constables last December. A fresh recruitment process will be undertaken.

The minister has also replaced the head of the present selection committee, which was set up on December 10, this year, by director-general of police V.D. Ram. The panel that was led by Deoghar SP Sampat Meena is now being headed by home guard DIG M.V.Rao.

The rest of the members on the board have been retained.

The minister?s personal secretary Gopalji Tiwari said inspector-general of police, Bokaro, Rajiv Kumar, has been asked to supervise the fresh recruitment process and complete the appointments in a month?s time.

Asked about the suspension, Tiwari said the minister had recommended suspension of Kiran over charges that several ineligible candidates had been appointed as constables in the Hazaribagh police range, comprising the districts of Chatra, Koderma, Giridih and Hazaribagh.

A 1989 batch IPS officer, Kiran was the chairperson of the selection committee that was entrusted with the job of appointing the constables.

The accused, who now occupies the rank of a deputy inspector-general, is posted as the managing director of Jharkhand Police Building Corporation. The minister is also said to have issued orders to the authorities concerned to keep SPs of the four districts out of the selection committees.

The recruitment exercise was completed in the police range during December last year. A total of 2,017 candidates were taken out of 9,125 applicants. Around two months ago, an internal probe revealed that as many as 932 shortlisted candidates were unfit to be appointed as constables. The probe pinned the blame on Kiran.

Home secretary J.B. Tubid, however, said he was yet to receive the recommendations.

IAS, IPS and IFS officers could be suspended by the state government if his/her act caused embarrassment or if his/her conduct was bad. But this must be followed by a charge-sheet and proceedings. A civil service official can be suspended for a maximum of six months, following which the state needs the Centre?s consent to extend the suspension period.