Calcutta, March 25: The Mamata Banerjee government has proposed to put an IPS officer at the helm of the correctional administration department, causing much consternation among the IAS lobby that has held the post till now.

According to senior government officials, the proposal was recently made by the "brass" of the government after the incumbent, home secretary Basudeb Banerjee, expressed his wish to be relieved of the post.

"A proposal has been mooted to appoint an IPS officer to the post. This is surprising as IPS officers have never been at the helm of any department so far," a senior official said.

Although it is not yet clear whether the proposal would clear all hurdles, bureaucrats have questioned whether such a move would affect the structure of the state administration.

"No IPS officer is put in charge of a department as it is not their duty. If an IPS officer is at the helm of a department, the entire system could get disturbed as cops' job is policing," another official said.

Sources said a file would soon be prepared on the proposal and sent to the chief minister.

According to the sources, the rules didn't allow the deployment of an IPS officer at the helm of the correctional administration department.

"According to the IAS cadre service rules, only IAS officers can be appointed to the post. In case of an acute shortage of IAS officers, the government can appoint an officer from another cadre for three months at the most. After three months, the post has to be given back to the IAS cadre," an official said.

If the chief minister wants to change the rule, the state government has to write to the department of personnel and training (DoPT) at the Centre, sources said.

Sources said it was unlikely that the DoPT would approve the move as the idea of keeping jails out of the policing system would get affected if an IPS officer was posted as the secretary of the department.

"If it is approved, there will be no difference between police custody and judicial custody. It would face a legal tangle," another official said.

Only once has the Bengal government written to the Centre requesting that a post reserved for IAS officers be given to an officer of another cadre.

"After the change of guard in Bengal, the chief minister wanted Goutam Sanyal, a former central secretariat service officer, to be her secretary, a post that had been held by an IAS officer before that. She had argued that as the secretary to the Prime Minister was a non-IAS post, she wanted to appoint a non-IAS officer as her secretary," a retired IAS officer.

Although Mamata's argument in favour of Sanyal was not opposed by IAS officers in Bengal and it got the DoPT's approval, it appears that deploying an IPS officer at the helm of the correctional administration department would not be easy.

"At least six to seven senior IAS officers have come back from central deputation. Some more are set to return in the next few months. Moreover, no IAS officer has been allowed to go to Delhi. There is no shortage of officers," an official said.