Synopsis: The petition notes that ruling party workers are being named as civic volunteers or civic police on a contractual basis to keep the police under control with the 2021 assembly elections in mind.
A petition was filed in the Supreme Court seeking instructions to be given to the State of West Bengal to fill vacancies in the police department and to bar the government from appointing permanent staff in place of civil volunteers or civic police in police stations.
Through lawyer Sarla Chandra, petitioner Abu Sohel argued that the State Government had assured the Supreme Court in 2017 that all 37,000 vacant posts would be filled as then in the West Bengal police force.
The petition states, however, that the vacancies remain open until the date with no intervention from the government to fill the same.
The plea also charges that instead of filling the vacancies, the state government named ruling party employees as”civic volunteers”or civic police “on a contractual basis” to organise and force people to express their views in support of the ruling party.
Using the power of civic volunteers/police, state authorities have been able to mobilise and force people to express their views on behalf of them, and the state of West Bengal is very reluctant to initiate effective police recruitment procedures.
The petition alleges that the High Court had previously ordered that the concerned Director General of Police (Recruitment), as well as the Additional Secretary, Department of Home and Government of West Bengal, shall be directly accountable in the case of a violation of the time line by the Government of West Bengal in appointing police personnel.
The petition alleges that the ruling party has been hiring its own staff and holding permanent posts in abeyance with the upcoming 2021 Bengal assembly elections in mind.
The petition notes that an assembly election is likely to take place in mid-2021 and that the presence of civil volunteers/police is increased instead of the appointment of police personnel in order to gain power over the whole situation and by the said act and actions the state authorities are attempting to curb the independence of police administration.
It was further claimed that “peace and peacefulness in the state” can not be sustained due to inadequate police constable, and that incidents of violence are on the rise in the state.
While the Apex court in 2013 directed the State high court to investigate the issue of police vacancies on the judicial side by taking suo motu action, the plea alleges that no such measure has yet been taken in the state.