New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (October 15) questioned the West Bengal government over recruitment of civic volunteers and asked it to furnish details of legal source of authority for hiring civic volunteers, modalities, qualifications, verifications, institutions in which they are assigned duties, budget and the payments made to them on daily and monthly basis.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, while calling the process of hiring of civic volunteers as a means of granting “political patronage” to unverified people, directed the West Bengal government to file an affidavit giving details of the above information and also mention the steps taken by it to ensure that such civic volunteers are not posted in hospitals, police stations and investigation of crime.
Who recruits these civic volunteers, apex court asked West Bengal government
“Who recruits these civic volunteers? We need to know what are these qualifications. We need to know that such volunteers do not operate in hospitals, schools that are sensitive in nature…Otherwise this a nice process of conferring political patronage on people who are totally unverified”, the bench told senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the West Bengal government.
Apex court was hearing suo motu cognisance of rape, murder of woman doctor
The apex court was hearing the suo motu cognisance it had taken in the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at the seminar room of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.
Prime accused in the case was a civil police volunteer, apex court was informed
The bench was informed that Sanjay Roy, the prime accused in the rape and the murder of the trainee woman doctor was a civic police volunteer having unrestricted access to the hospital building.
Senior advocate Karuna Nundy, who appeared for a doctors’ association, submitted before the bench that the state government of West Bengal government had doubled the recruitment of civic volunteers in violation of the Calcutta High Court order, which had disallowed civic volunteers from discharging any law and order functions. Nundy submitted that over 1500 civic volunteers were working in the state.
Advocate Vrinda Grover, who appeared for the victim’s kin, told the bench that main accused in the case, Roy, was recruited as a civic volunteer despite having cases of domestic violence against him.
Dwivedi told the bench that Roy was not recruited under the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act 2005 and was hired through the police recruitment notification and the security staff at the hospitals were now being recruited as per the 2005 Act.
