By IANS,
New Delhi : Two brothers — one of whom is set to lead the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) while the other heads the Border Security Force (BSF) — are separated by less than five months, if the data on the home ministry website is to be believed.
Both are Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of the 1973 batch and are set to make history, with the government Friday deciding to appoint the younger of the two, Vikram Srivastava, as the director general (DG) of the CRPF while elder brother, Raman Srivastava, is heading the BSF. These are the country’s two biggest paramilitary forces.
There are 17 IPS officers on central deputation at the DG level, according to the home ministry list.
The ministry list shows the date of birth of Raman Srivastava, a Kerala batch IPS officer, as Oct 24, 1951. His brother’s birthday is listed as March 18, 1952.
There is just a difference of five months in their ages.
Vikram Srivastava, currently the DG of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, will take over as CRPF director general on Sunday on the retirement of incumbent A.S. Gill, a 1972 batch officer.
“Yes, I will take over Sunday as the DG, CRPF. And yes, I was born March 18, 1952,” Vikram Srivastava told IANS.
Raman Srivastava was out of Delhi.
Home ministry officials could not clear the air over the discrepancy in their age difference of five months – a biological impossibility.
“I need to check this. I cannot comment on this now,” said home ministry spokesperson Onkar Kedia.
The Department of Personnel & Training, the coordinating agency of the central government in personnel matters, especially in respect of issues concerning recruitment and training, said it was unaware of this issue.
“I have no idea of this. The home ministry will be in a better position to explain this. I do not have their dossiers,” Shantanu Consul, the secretary, personnel and training, told IANS.
Raman Srivastava will retire in October 2011 year while his younger brother has still two years to go before superannuation and will retire March 31, 2012.