6 committees set up to identify 'tainted' constables in UP

The Uttar Pradesh government, which had started the process of reinstating over 18,000 sacked constables on the direction of the Allahabad High Court, on Tuesday set up six committees to identify the 'tainted' ones, in view of charges of irregularities in the selection process.

State Home Secretary Mahesh Gupta told reporters that the process of provisional appointment of police, Provincial Armed Constabulary and wireless constables, whose sacking by the Mayawati government was successfully challenged in the high court, had started.

"Six committees would be formed to verify and segregate the tainted constables," he said.

Each of the committees would be headed by an assistant director general of police rank official, the spokesman said, adding that they would be assisted by nine sub-committees each. The number of members in each of the sub-committees has not been specified and no timeframe set for the purpose, though they have been asked to submit their report at the earliest, he said.

After the apex court turned down the government's petition for a stay on the reappointment, the process of reinstating the constables, in line with the ruling of a two-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court on December 8 last year, has started.

The court had directed the government to first reinstate the constables and later initiate an exercise to identify the tainted policemen. The Mayawati government, after taking over the reins of the state in 2007, had dismissed the police and PAC constables, selected through 42 recruitment boards under the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav government, alleging irregularities in the recruitment process.