The state government informed the Gujarat High Court that as of July 31, there are 26,147 vacancies for police personnel in the state, against a sanctioned strength of 1.08 lakh. The government also clarified that the recruitment process was initiated for 9,719 vacancies in 2018-19, which is likely to bring down the vacancies to 16,428. The highest number of vacancies -- 8,106 and 8,019 -- are there in the categories of unarmed and armed constables, respectively. Similarly, 465 posts are empty for unarmed inspectors, 675 for unarmed sub-inspectors, 1,182 for unarmed assistant sub-inspectors, 2,135 for unarmed head constables, and 435 for armed assistant sub-inspectors. In addition to these, there are 4,784 vacancies under various categories in State Reserve Police. It has been also submitted that recruitment for 11,404 positions in the police force is proposed for 2019-20. The submissions were made by the government in response to a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) initiated by the high court owing to the poor working conditions and widespread vacancies in the state police force. The court had taken cognisance of the fact that state, in an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court in February 2017, had revealed that out of the sanctioned strength of 1,03,689 posts, 28,580 posts — amounting to more than 25% of the total strength — remained vacant as of January 31, 2017. On March 11, 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the high court to take suo motu cognisance of the issue and to direct the government to disclose the latest details of vacancies and recruitment. The suo motu petition provides that if the sanctioned posts remain vacant, it adds to the pressure on the existing strength and eventually to the misery of the public. It also provides that failure of the state to fill up the positions affects the right of the people at large to a peaceful and secured life guaranteed under the Constitution. It also mentions that the strength of the police force needs to be increased to commensurate with the rising population and that they must be given periodic training.

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