Onefifth CBI posts vacant

INVESTIGATING JOBS With tenure of two joint directors set to end in couple of months, the agency may look at vacancies at other ranks AT EXECUTIVE RANK, THE PERSONNEL WHO PROBE CASES, THE CBI HAS 990 VACANCIES AGAINST ITS SANCTIONED STRENGTH

OF 5,000 EMPLOYEES

country’s premier anti-corruption investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), is reeling under acute shortage of supervisory officers and ground-level investigators.

Out of four sanctioned posts of special and additional director, CBI has one additional director.

At the third highest rank of joint director, the agency has 18 sanctioned posts, but only 11 are available with the agency. Most of the agency’s joint directors currently hold additional charge.

Two joint directors are set to leave the agency in next two months when their tenure ends.

According to the per the CBI’s latest human resource statement, released on April 1 this year, nearly 21% (or one-fifth) of positions at various ranks are vacant with the probe agency.

When contacted by HT, the CBI declined to comment.

At executive rank, the on-theground personnel conducting investigations, the agency has 990 vacancies against its sanctioned strength of 5,000 employees.

As against its capacity to probe 700 cases in a year, the agency has been investigating around 1,100 cases every year since 2014.

The parliamentary standing committee on ministry of personnel, under which the CBI functions administratively, noted in a report in April last year: “While deposing before the committee, the director, CBI, proposed to provide longer tenure to officers on deputation in the CBI from the state and other central forces in addition to the other steps taken to manage the vacancy position.

The director had told the committee that unless state governments provide the manpower by sending more police personnel on deputation to the CBI, a time could come that the agency may “collapse and fail”.

In another report in 2015, the committee had stated: “On the one hand, the number of investigations being entrusted to the CBI is rising; on the other hand, there is an acute staff crunch. The committee fears that if this situation persists for a long time, this may adversely impact the quality of investigation of the CBI.”

The CBI directly recruits personnel at the level of constable and sub-inspector. For the rest, it takes personnel from other central forces or state police on deputation for a period ranging from five to seven years. At senior ranks of superintendent of police and above, it mainly takes officials from the Indian Police Service (IPS) on deputation.

NR Wasan, who served in the CBI for 18 years before retiring as the chief of Bureau of Police Research and Development, said, “the agency should take more and more DySPs, inspectors and sub-inspectors from state police on deputation as they come with huge investigation experience”.

“The deputation from central paramilitary forces should not be emphasised as their staff do not have much investigation experience. But to attract officials from state police, CBI will have to offer more perks to them,” he said.

NEW DELHI:The

Where the positions are lying vacant

Deputy Inspector General Sr Superintendent of Police Superintendent of Police Additional Superintendent of Police Deputy Superintendent of Police

Inspectors Sub-Inspectors 2014 2015 2016 2017