Civic volunteers' appointment a likely fraudulent process: HC

Observing that interviewing and issuing appointment letters to a large number of civic police volunteers the same day in West Bengal appeared to be a "fradulent" process, the Calcutta High Court today reserved its judgement on a petition for Friday.
The court was hearing a batch of writ petitions filed by some unsuccessful candidates.
Nearly 1.2 lakh civic police volunteers were recently appointed in West Bengal on whom Rs 1.6 crore was being spent daily in allowances. The court had earlier stayed the recruitment process.
Justice Sanjib Banerjee asked the state counsel what checks and balances the government had put in place to ensure that such huge public funds were being properly utilised.

The court asked the state counsel as to what steps the government would take to correct what appeared to be a fraudulent process.
Justice Banerjee, while hearing the petitions which claimed that civic police volunteers were appointed "arbitrarily and without adhering to norms", expressed surprise over hundreds of volunteers being apparently interviewed and given appointment in some police station areas the same day.

Taking up the case of Sarenga police station in Bankura district, Justice Banerjee noted that 1,464 candidates had been called for interview on the same date of whom 1,351 appeared.
The judge expressed surprise over how so many candidates could be interviewed, their numbers tabulated and appointment letters signed the same day.

The court observed that even if a candidate was interviewed for only a minute, it would take 22 hours and 31 minutes to finish interview of all candidates, which would be an improbable proposition.
In another example, at Barikul police station in Bankura district, 946 candidates were called for interview, of whom nearly 900 appeared and appointments letters were issued to those successful the same day.
While the interviews at Sarenga took place on April 12, 2013, at Barikul those were held on April 8, 2013.