Telangana HC admits PIL over thousands of vacant police posts

The Telangana High Court has taken up a PIL filed by Help The People Charitable Trust, urging the state government to fill thousands of vacant posts in the police department. The petitioner cited Supreme Court directions from 2019 encouraging High Courts to monitor such vacancies through suo motu PILs.

By Legal Correspondent

Hyderabad: Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin of the Telangana High Court on Wednesday took up a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Keethineedi Akhil Sri Guru Teja, Chairman of Help The People Charitable Trust, seeking directions to the State government to fill up a large number of sanctioned vacancies in the Telangana Police Department.

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The petitioner contended that despite thousands of sanctioned posts lying vacant across different ranks, the State had failed to take timely steps to fill them, leading to an overburdened police force and hampering effective maintenance of law and order. He urged the Court to direct the authorities to prepare a structured roadmap and annual job calendar to ensure regular recruitment and promotion processes in the police department.

The petitioner’s counsel pointed out that in 2019, the Supreme Court in W.P.(C) No.183 of 2013 had requested High Courts to entertain suo motu PILs to monitor such vacancies in police and armed forces so that forces were not overstretched. He argued that, to his knowledge, no such suo motu PIL had been taken up by the Telangana High Court till date.

The bench directed the Registry to verify whether any suo motu PIL had been initiated by the High Court in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions and to place a note on record. The matter has been adjourned for two weeks.