The Hindu : New Delhi News : Shortage of manpower hits CBI probe into housing scam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 15, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Shortage of manpower hits CBI probe into housing scam

Prashant Pandey

Investigating agency under pressure from court to expedite investigations

NEW DELHI: Under pressure from the Delhi High Court for expediting investigations into the Rs. 4,000-crore Cooperative Group Housing Societies (CGHS) scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation seems to have been left with no option but to "rob Peter to pay Paul" in so far as reallocation of manpower is concerned.

On Friday, the Delhi High Court had pulled up CBI for delay in investigations and had even warned that it would summon the Director of the investigating agency if the probe was not expedited. The CBI had earlier submitted before the court that the pace of investigations had been hampered due to shortage of manpower.

"Investigations into the CGHS scam will have to be taken up on priority (following the court's directions)...men and officers involved in investigations of other cases will now be asked to handle the CGHS case," said an official.

What has further added to the problem of manpower shortage for the CBI is the sheer magnitude of the scam. In August last year, under the direction of the High Court, a Special Investigating Team (SIT) was constituted to investigate the scam. An officer of the rank of Deputy Inspector General headed the team comprising nine superintendents of police. But SIT, which had about 50 men, has practically ceased to exist. "In view of the massive number of cases, they were subsequently distributed among various departments of the CBI like the Anti-Corruption Branch, Special Crimes Wing and Economic Offences Wing," said the officer. Each department was handling around 50 cases and every investigating officer was dealing with more than five cases each, the officer added.

The CBI has already registered 152 cases in connection with the scam and another 97 are likely to be registered soon. The former Registrar of Cooperative Societies, N. Diwakar, who surrendered in January, alone has been named in more than 40 cases.

Against the backdrop of the incumbent problem is the acute shortage of officers in the CBI at the level of investigating officers. The agency can borrow officers from the Central Police Organisations (CPOs) or the State police organisations. But officers from these para-military organisations usually have little experience in investigations and officers from the State police forces are content to be with their parent organisation due to various benefits.

The Government is said to be working on a set of new initiatives to draw people into the elite agency and fill up the crucial vacancies. These include measures like special allowances and housing facilities. "For the time being now, we are learning to live with the shortage," said the officer.

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