More than 21% female police posts vacant in Maharashtra
21 Jan, 2013Reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by Mr. Chetan Kothari has shown that as on December 31, 2012, only 8.54 per cent policewomen were working in the sanctioned strength of the Maharashtra state police against the norms of 30 %. This implies that more than 21 per cent of female posts in the Maharashtra police force are lying vacant.
There are currently 17,665 female police officers out of a total force of 2,07,884 against the norms of 68,000. Out of these, 16,419 women are serving in the assistant sub-inspectors to constable rank while 1,246 females are serving in posts from sub-inspectors to DGP. At the senior level, there is one DGP and ADGP, three IGs, 217 API and 872 SI.
The huge backlog is attributed to the faulty process of earlier recruitment and though the corrective action has been taken, the filling of the vacancies as per norms is likely to take around 20 years.