Mumbai: Eight ACP posts vacant, most ATS units remain headless

The agency has 10 ACP posts but even after Wednesday’s transfers the ATS still has only two. One of these is the ACP (Data) who has been holding the administrative post for some time now while the second one was appointed on Wednesday, as ACP (Aurangabad).

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The post will be occupied by senior police inspector Arun Chavan, who has been promoted as ACP.

Posts of five field ACPs (two in Mumbai and one each in Pune, Nagpur and Thane) are still vacant. Three other ACP positions are attached to administrative departments of the agency and these posts are vacant too.

“Despite bringing the issue to the notice of the state home department, the problem has not being appropriately addressed. Only one ACP has been appointed, eight vacancies remain,” said a senior officer from the agency. “This means we have to wait for another year to get ACPs or hope to get ACPs during the fresh recruitment of IPS officers,” he added.

Under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) or the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), an ACP-rank officer is required to be appointed as investigating officer. “But with no ACPs, we are left with no option but to not take up the cases,” the officer said.

“In cases where there is a pressing need to register a case, it is done by a deputy commissioner of police whose actual duty is to supervise the probe,” he added.

Also, ACPs are appointed in charge of ATS units across Maharashtra. The main ones, such as the Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nagpur units, are now headless without ACPs, say officers in the ATS, which has been reeling under an acute manpower shortage since last year.

The staff crunch is also being felt in the top rung. Only recently, ATS-Mumbai got a DCP, a post that fell vacant after DCP Pradeep Sawant was transferred to Mumbai headquarters in April. Meanwhile, there is also no replacement for the post of Aurangabad Superintendent of Police at the ATS.

“Aurangabad is a sensitive district. In 2006, a large cache of arms was seized from there. Even alleged 26/11 handler Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal hails from here and the sleeper cells of the Indian Mujahideen are also active in this pocket. A senior officer is required to take control of the district,” asserted an officer.