BENGALURU: In order to reduce the burden on the existing police personnel, the High Court issued directions to the state government to make an ‘action plan for structured annual recruitment’ and to strengthen the recruitment wing with more personnel.
This direction was issued on Saturday in view of the large number of vacancies in almost all cadres of the police department. This has resulted in long delay in investigation and prosecution in criminal courts. There have been several petitions filed seeking quashing of the proceedings on the ground of delay.
Justice Venugopala Gowda’s verdict came after taking into stock events such as the riots that took place in April following strikes by garment workers. The situation had escalated due to inadequate presence of police personnel.
‘Action plan for structured annual recruitment’ is the schedule for the police department to obtain vacancy details from the wing concerned, publication of notification, inviting applications, preparation of the merit list, conducting both written and physical tests and preparing a selection list.
“The strength of the police force in the state made it apparent that that there is more than 25 per cent vacancy. Even by taking note of the ongoing recruitment process, the vacancy would not go down below 20 per cent... It became clear that the state of Karnataka is behind other states with regard to the number of police per lakh of population. In Karnataka, the number of personnel is 106.04 as against the sanctioned strength of 154.34 per lakh,” Justice Gowda noted.
He told the government that resource crunch or inadequacy of infrastructure should not be an impediment in enforcement of law and order and that the government should take immediate measures to fill the vacancies.
‘Form panel to check encroachment by IAF’
The High Court on Monday directed Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner to constitute a committee to ascertain the alleged encroachment of a storm water drain by the Indian Air Force (IAF) at Jalahalli West in the city. The division bench of Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice R B Budihal also directed the Deputy Commissioner to take steps to clear encroachment if the same is proved during the inquiry. A public interest litigation was filed by Venkatesh Nanjappa and six others, residents of Jalahalli, seeking directions to protect the storm water drain along the Air Force Station. They alleged that IAF authorities had put up a fencing along the drain.