Punjab police to recruit domain experts

The restructuring was approved by the Punjab Cabinet. "The Amarinder Singh-led Council of Ministers on Wednesday paved the way for Punjab police to become India's first police force to draw civilians as domain experts in IT/Digital, Legal Forensics and Finance to give a high quality cutting edge to its investigation functions," claimed the statement.

Punjab police will recruit nearly 800 domain experts in the fields of IT/Digital, legal forensics and finance to give a "cutting edge" to its investigation. The 798 experts will be recruited directly as plainclothes civilian support staff for the Punjab Investigation Bureau, which had planned to induct a total of 4,251 personnel, as a result of the restructuring of the Punjab police department, said an official statement. The restructuring was approved by the Punjab Cabinet.

"The Amarinder Singh-led Council of Ministers on Wednesday paved the way for Punjab police to become India's first police force to draw civilians as domain experts in IT/Digital, Legal Forensics and Finance to give a high quality cutting edge to its investigation functions," claimed the statement. The restructuring, which will enable the bureau to make direct recruitment in the ranks of sub-inspectors/head constables and constables, will be done in a revenue-neutral manner, by abolishing 4,849 existing posts, thus ensuring that there is no additional financial burden on the state exchequer, said the statement.

As per provisional plans, direct recruitment of police officers will be undertaken across ranks. This will bring about a qualitative change in the investigation process. It would help improve the quality of investigations in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) cases.

These fresh recruitments would be done after taking out these posts from the purview of the Subordinate Service Selection Board through Police Recruitment Board. This will enable the Bureau to also fill 100 per cent posts (159 posts) of ministerial staff as per existing Punjab Police Ministerial Staff Rules and 798 posts of Civilian Support Staff as per the new proposed service rules, it said. The remaining posts of Subordinate Ranks (Inspector to Constables) out of the total 4,521 posts sanctioned in Punjab Bureau of Investigation would initially be filled up by deputation from Punjab Police and, thereafter, by promotion from the ranks of Punjab Bureau of Investigation.

The cabinet has also accordingly approved "The Punjab Police Investigation Cadre Subordinate Ranks (Appointment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2020" to govern the recruitment/appointment and the conditions of service of the Subordinate Ranks of the Punjab Bureau of Investigation Cadre..