Fill up vacancies in police dept, HC orders govt

CUTTACK: Taking note of the fact that staff inadequacy has hindered production of under trial prisoners (UTPs) in courts by police, the Orissa High Court on Tuesday directed the Government to take expeditious measures to fill up vacant posts in all cadres of the Police Department. The division bench of Chief Justice V Gopalagowda and Justice BN Mohapatra has asked Advocate General Ashok Mohanty to communicate the order to the Chief Secretary for speedy follow-up action while posting the next hearing to October 25. The directions came in response to a writ petition filed by a UTP Sushil Behera alleging that he was not being produced before the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Aska, to face trial despite fixation of date by the court. The HC had earlier asked the Ganjam SP to appear in person and explain why he was not being produced in court. Accordingly, the former Ganjam SP and present DCP of Bhubaneswar Nitinjit Singh appeared in person and filed an affidavit stating that due to want of adequate staff, the petitioner could not be produced in compliance with the orders of the JMFC, Aska. He, as the SP of Ganjam, had even written to DIG Police (Modernisation) for creation of required posts. The Advocate General also submitted that recruitment to fill up the vacant posts of the Police Department could not be expedited on account of interimorder passed by the Orissa Administrative Tribunal (OAT). The bench on Tuesday observed that shortage of staff had contributed to pendency of cases as they could not be disposed of at different levels due to non-production of UTPs.As the DCP submitted that the petitioner had already been produced before the JMFC, Aska, there was no need for any further direction but steps should be taken immediately to recruit people to various cadres of police, the bench directed.