Kolkata: The state home department will recruit 700 sub inspectors (S-I) on an urgent basis to expedite probe of pending cases.
“As many as 626 assistant sub-inspectors (ASI) has been promoted to S-I level. There is a tentative vacancy of 2000 S-I’s. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee (who heads the home department) has instructed us to complete the recruitment process on a priority basis,” a senior official of the state home department said.
Sources attributed the vacancies to less recruitment during the Left Front government’s rule. “Often ASI’s were made to act as investigating officers which is unprofessional. It is the S-I’s who have the skills to act as investigating officers in different cases,” the source added.
According to latest data available with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 13,23,120 cases are pending with different courts in the state, which is the fifth highest in the country.
Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 52,65,891 cases, followed by Maharashtra (30,95,117), Gujarat (22,20,641) and Bihar (13,85,440). West Bengal is also the third highest in number of cases pending for the past ten years.
The NCRB data points out that the state has a stunning a huge backlog of cases — 13.91 per cent of the total cases — pending for over 10 years.
