The Supreme Court has directed the Home Secretaries of all the States to file affidavits giving details of vacancies in police service at all levels within four weeks.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar observed that the vacancy in police service was an “important issue.”
The Bench, also comprising Justices N.V. Ramana and D.Y. Chandrachud, said that if a State failed to file an affidavit, it would “ensure the presence of Home Secretaries along with necessary records to assist the court in disposal of the matter.”
“In view of the importance of the issue, we require the Home Secretaries of all the State governments to file affidavits in this court depicting the necessary position. In order to ensure compliance of the order, we hereby direct respondent number one [the Centre] to communicate the instant order to the Home Secretaries of all the State governments within one week,” the Bench said.
The court was hearing a petition that claimed the law and order situation in the country was deteriorating due to a large number of vacancies in police service at all levels across all the States.
The petitioner said there were around 5.42 lakh vacancies across the country.
