The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the State government to fill up as early as possible the vacancies in the fire department.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice C. Hari Shankar issued the directions after the fire department informed the court that it initiated steps to recruit around 706 fire operators on a permanent basis and 500 on contract.
The Delhi Fire Service (DFS), in its affidavit regarding the recruitment process, has said that against a sanctioned strength of 3,311 fire operators, it currently has 2,371 personnel after 484 people joined this year.
It has also said that on May 30, a proposal was made to hire 500 fire operators on a contract basis for one year, to be extended till permanent recruitment was made, and the same was under scrutiny of the Delhi government’s Finance Department.
Plea by AVUT
The affidavit was filed in response to the plea by the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy, through its chairperson Neelam Krishnamoorthy, contending that despite the lapse of more than 21 years since the Uphaar fire tragedy that claimed 59 lives, fire safety arrangements in the Capital have not improved as the DFS was facing a “manpower crunch”.
