Vacancies that are ‘costing’ govt money

The 40 posts of legal inspectors that have been lying vacant for the last three years is actually proving costly for the government.

The legal inspectors under Consumer Affairs Department carry out raids at locate places where customers are overcharged or cheated in terms of weights or volumes. "Each of the officers bring in at least Rs 5 lakh each year in terms of fines to offenders. Going by that calculation, the state is losing at least Rs 2 crore every year," a senior officer of the legal metrology said.

Of the 145 posts of legal inspectors across the state, there are 106 legal officers at present working. "Of them, at least three have retired this year and have not been replaced by anyone, making our work even more difficult because these officers have to cover the entire state," the officer added.

Consumer Affairs Minister Sadhan Pande admitted that there was a dearth of manpower and added that candidates with Physics (Honours) background will be fit for the post.

"There is lack of manpower in my department I am going to recruit legal inspectors. I have put in a requisition to the PSC. Once these people are recruited, we will be better equipped to go ahead with bigger drives for to ensure consumer rights," he said.

"The PSC had been notified of these vacancies and the recruitment examination will take place in March this year," said Vivek Bhardwaj, secretary of the department. He, however, brushed aside the argument that the state was losing money because of that. "How do you explain the rise in income in terms of fines collected in these three years?"

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