The Supreme Court on Monday (17th April 2017) decided to monitor the filling up of 4.42 lakh vacancies in police departments across India and summoned top home department officials of six states with the highest vacancies.
A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices D Y Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul ordered either the home secretary or a representative joint secretary of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, with the highest vacancies in police departments, to re main present in court on Friday to assist the bench “in preparing a definite road map to fill the vacancies“.
Police vacancies in India
There are 4.42 lakh vacancies in police departments across India
UP has a sanctioned strength of 3.5 lakh police personnel but 1.51 lakh posts are vacant; West Bengal's sanctioned strength of 1.02 lakh is short by 37325; Bihar has 34251 vacancies against the total strength of 72,132; Jharkhand's total strength of 81969 is short by 26303; Karnataka's sanctioned strength of 1.02 lakh is 24399 short and Tamil Nadu's sanctioned strength of 1.23 lakh is down by 19803 vacant posts.
The SC had issued notices to all states and Union Territories on a PIL filed by an advocate in 2013, but the states do not appear to have taken concrete steps to fill the vacancies, which considerably reduced the ability of an already overworked police force to maintain law and order and stop crimes.
The health of police force in numbers did not appear to inspire the court's confidence as it found that 4.42 lakh posts in police departments were vacant in states and UTs, which together have a sanctioned strength of 17.95 lakh personnel.
The bench said, “We shall deal on subsequent dates of hearings with other states. At present, we will endeavour to monitor filling up of vacancies in the six states where the vacancies are considerably higher. We direct the home secretary to remain present in court personally or nominate an officer of the department not less than the rank of a joint secretary to help the court prepare a definite road map to fill the vacancies.“
The stock answers from counsel for states were, “The process is on to fill the vacancies and steps are being taken.“ Unimpressed, the bench said the petition had been pending in the SC for the last four years and the governments were still in the process of taking steps. “We tried our best to persuade you to fill the posts. But you have not.“
A valid reason was given by UP's Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, who said on most occasions, whenever a recruitment drive was undertaken, the matter ended in litigation and got stalled. The SC said it would examine this aspect too.
Other states with large vacancies are (sanctioned strength in brackets) -Assam 12082 (72132), Chhattisgarh 12638 (1.12 lakh), Haryana 15163 (58832), Madhya Pradesh 14729 (75253), Maharashtra 11603 (2.2 lakh), NCT Delhi 8520 (84417), Odisha 9634 (67950), Punjab 3729 (83706), Rajasthan 15731 (1.05 lakh) and Telangana 17504.
A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices D Y Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul ordered either the home secretary or a representative joint secretary of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, with the highest vacancies in police departments, to re main present in court on Friday to assist the bench “in preparing a definite road map to fill the vacancies“.
Police vacancies in India
There are 4.42 lakh vacancies in police departments across India
UP has a sanctioned strength of 3.5 lakh police personnel but 1.51 lakh posts are vacant; West Bengal's sanctioned strength of 1.02 lakh is short by 37325; Bihar has 34251 vacancies against the total strength of 72,132; Jharkhand's total strength of 81969 is short by 26303; Karnataka's sanctioned strength of 1.02 lakh is 24399 short and Tamil Nadu's sanctioned strength of 1.23 lakh is down by 19803 vacant posts.
The SC had issued notices to all states and Union Territories on a PIL filed by an advocate in 2013, but the states do not appear to have taken concrete steps to fill the vacancies, which considerably reduced the ability of an already overworked police force to maintain law and order and stop crimes.
The health of police force in numbers did not appear to inspire the court's confidence as it found that 4.42 lakh posts in police departments were vacant in states and UTs, which together have a sanctioned strength of 17.95 lakh personnel.
The bench said, “We shall deal on subsequent dates of hearings with other states. At present, we will endeavour to monitor filling up of vacancies in the six states where the vacancies are considerably higher. We direct the home secretary to remain present in court personally or nominate an officer of the department not less than the rank of a joint secretary to help the court prepare a definite road map to fill the vacancies.“
The stock answers from counsel for states were, “The process is on to fill the vacancies and steps are being taken.“ Unimpressed, the bench said the petition had been pending in the SC for the last four years and the governments were still in the process of taking steps. “We tried our best to persuade you to fill the posts. But you have not.“
A valid reason was given by UP's Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, who said on most occasions, whenever a recruitment drive was undertaken, the matter ended in litigation and got stalled. The SC said it would examine this aspect too.
Other states with large vacancies are (sanctioned strength in brackets) -Assam 12082 (72132), Chhattisgarh 12638 (1.12 lakh), Haryana 15163 (58832), Madhya Pradesh 14729 (75253), Maharashtra 11603 (2.2 lakh), NCT Delhi 8520 (84417), Odisha 9634 (67950), Punjab 3729 (83706), Rajasthan 15731 (1.05 lakh) and Telangana 17504.
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