lack of coordination between police administration and State administration results in the crucial recruitment process for the jail department hang fire for a considerably long time. Seemingly frustrated with things remaining stuck in the bogs of apathy, a police senior officer wondered whether there is any department in the State as well as in the country where 75 per cent of the posts remain vacant for years. “And things would look grim if viewed against the backdrop of criminals being inclined to escape, giving a slip to the on-duty guards, or to chalk out the nitty- gritty of crimes from inside the prisons. This is happening in Uttarakhand as elsewhere in the country,” he said.
Shortage of jail staffs caused security breach in jails last year. A shoot-out occurred outside Roorkee sub-jail in August last. As per evidences, a hard- core criminal Sunil Rathi had drafted the shootout to bump off his arch-rival Cheenu Pandit. later, he was supposed to have firmed up another daring plan to facilitate the escape of his close aide and sharp-shooter Amit Malik alias ‘Bhura’ from police custody when he was being taken to court in Bagahpat on December 15.
Alarmed over the criminals taking security with chaff, the administration of jails was handed over to an IPS officer, rupturing the longstanding tradition of leaving things to an IAS. Senior IPS officer PVK Prasad was made IG jail to stem the tide of security being trifled with. However, things are vegetating with the state administration not providing the jail administration with adequate officers and infrastructure.
IG jail PVK Prasad said that as the head of the department, he could start recruitment process for posts lying vacant in the department. “However, there are some formalities. I wrote to the state administration to fix up the criteria for the process of recruitment. Things would start once they fix up the criteria,” he said. However, nobody knows when the state government would sit up and clear decks for the long-pending recruitment.
Prasad further said, “Earlier, jail officials were recruited on the basis of written test. There was then no provision for physical test. Now we have decided to include it in view of the fact that the state’s jails are lodging several seasoned and notorious criminals,” he added. The jail authorities had sent proposals a few months ago, demanding recruitment of jail staffs and seeking 125 police officers and police personnel on deputation from the police department to overcome the crunch. However, those in positions to address the demands keep on sitting on the proposals for reasons best known to them.
A Pauri jail official said that CCTV cameras and cell-phone jammers have been installed in some jails in the state. But the persons recruited through UPNl can hardly be relied upon when it comes to monitoring CCTV cameras and jamming cell-phones. Jails being overcrowded are further compounding their problems, he said. Junior jail officers of the rank of deputy jailor or head warder are heading the jails in Tehri, Pauri, Chamoli, Roorkee and others and these officers have to report the SDM concerned on a daily basis as regards budget and other decisions. It means that things are being left to the charge of junior jail officials like warden or head warden for five to six hours daily, leaving the jails highly vulnerable.
Meanwhile, taking note of various security lapses found in recent years in the jails at Roorkee and Dehradun like the inmates using mobile phones to plan and lead crimes occurring outside the jails, the state government had given the post of IG jail to an IPS officer. People were relieved, thinking that the crucial post being given to an IPS would better the quality of jail administration. But the staff crunch remaining un-addressed is coming in the way of the jails becoming jails in the true sense. “Things are being left to god’s grace,” said a worried jail official.
Shortage of jail officials, including jail superintendent, jailor, deputy jailors, head warders, warders and female warders, has been leaving an adverse impact on the functioning of jail administration. However, State home secretary in-charge Vinod Sharma said that a government order on recruitment of 300 jail officials will soon be released.
