CBI to file affidavit on lack of officers

The Supreme Court wants to know what are the bottlenecks CBI is facing in appointing officers to overcome its manpower shortage.

A bench headed by justice TS Thakur on Monday directed the CBI to file a detailed affidavit within two weeks, furnishing details of its cadre strength and the number of cases that were pending with when the last recruitment was made.

The court order came as it was hearing a PIL related to the Saradha scam in West Bengal.

The CBI has showed its reluctance to take over the non-Saradha chit fund cases and blamed it on lack of officers. SC had last year ordered a CBI probe into the scam that also involves senior political leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state.

“Why don’t you appoint. It is your government after all? What is your current liability? (problems) We need to examine whether we need to intervene. You must set your own house in order,” justice Thakur told solicitor general Ranjit Kumar who argued for the CBI.

Kumar said out of the sanctioned strength of 4,544 in the CBI, there were 750 vacancies, which was hampering its probe.

The bench directed the law officer to inform the court what steps has the CBI taken to fill up the vacancies and also give a list of the important cases — such as Saradha and Vyapam — being probed by it.