Understaffed Lokayukta police seeking sanction of 22 officers

Wing plays crucial role in exposing corruption at highest level, but is facing acute staff shortage; current strength is poor with four DySPs instead of five and 12 inspectors instead of fifteen and DIG post is vacant for over two months

Understaffed Lokayukta police seeking sanction of 22 officers

The Lokayukta police wing, which plays a crucial role in exposing corruption at political and government levels, is facing an acute shortage of staff to handle cases.

Despite former Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde demanding additional staff during his tenure, the government has done nothing to ensure these vacancies are filled

The authorities have now requested the government to sanction 22 additional police officers exclusively for the city, to function under the Deputy Inspector General of Police.

Ironically, the existing DIG post has been vacant for the past two months after Pranob Mohanty was transferred as Joint Commissioner of Police, Bangalore city.

Coping issues
Admitting that there was indeed a shortage of staff, a senior police officer said that the Lokayukta wing gets at least one trap-case everyday, which requires immediate attention.

Apart from these, various courts refer high-priority cases to the wing on a daily basis."Due to the increasing cases everyday, the existing officers are burdened. The wing presently has one SP, four DySPs and 12 inspectors," said the senior police officer.

Other official also revealed that the staff shortage situation is a serious concern. "The present number of staff is inadequate and several positions are vacant. We have four DySPs instead of five and 12 inspectors instead of fifteen," he added.

On an average, Lokayukta receives at least five complaints everyday that requires immediate attention.
"This frequent problem has increased the number of pending Departmental Enquiry (DE) cases, and 100 such cases are already pending," said a senior officer.

In addition, Lokayukta also gets high profile cases everyday, which the police wing needs to investigate and solve immediately.

"Keeping this in mind, we have written to the government seeking sanctioning of at least 22 posts on priority," the official added.

Senior officials assert that this is not a new requisition. "Earlier when R K Dutta was in-charge of the police wing in 2009, he had requested the government to increase staff strength," the official said.

Getting nowhere
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which handles corruption cases in Central government level, handles one or two cases a year with equal number of staff in every bureau.

But comparatively, Lokayukta in the state level, which has equal number of staff, handles at least two to three trap-cases in a week, apart from routine DE cases and other investigation follow ups.

Former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde, who demanded additional force during his tenure, had said that the Lokayukta wing should have at least four officers to deal with each corruption case to take it to its logical end.

Long wait?
However, despite his efforts, the government has done nothing to ensure these vacancies are filled. Insiders reveal that since many BJP politicos in the city are being nailed following Lokayukta investigations, the ruling party is now reluctant to fill in the vacant positions for fear of more crackdowns.

Weak numbers
Existing staff in city level
1 SP
4 Deputy SPs
12 Inspectorsu00a0
Existing vacancies
1 DIG
1 DySps
2 Inspectors
Required posts to handle cases
1 DIG
3 SPs
6 DY SPs
12 Inspectors
Additional staff requirements
Sub inspectors
Assistant sub inspectors
Head constables
Police constables

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