By IANS,

Patna : Six dead police inspectors have been recommended by the Bihar Police for promotion to the rank of deputy superintendent. They supersede live inspectors, who have gone to court in protest.

The matter came to light when a writ petition was filed recently in Patna High Court by half a dozen senior police inspectors against the state government, the state police chief, home commissioner, inspector general (IG) of police (administration) and various Scheduled Caste (SC) inspectors.

The petitioners challenged a Jan 14 order of the IG (administration) that recommended 76 police inspectors for promotion to deputy superintendent of police (DSP) rank.

"Not only was our seniority superseded by junior police inspectors from the scheduled castes, even six dead police inspectors figure on the list," said Abhay Kumar, one of the petitioners.

A police department spokesperson refused to comment.

The incident has a recent precedent. Last year, names of dozens of government officials who had either died or retired figured in the promotions list of the registration department in Buxar district.

According to official sources, most of those in the list of 48 promoted officials had either died or retired long ago.