The Delhi High Court directed the AAP government on Wednesday to fill up as early as possible and practicable the vacancies in the fire department, which, according to a PIL is facing a "manpower crunch".
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued the directions after the fire department informed the court that it has initiated steps to recruit around 706 fire operators on a permanent basis and 500 on contract.
Taking note of the submissions made by the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) in its affidavit regarding the recruitment process, the court disposed of the plea saying in view of the steps taken it "saw no further need to monitor the matter".
In the affidavit, the DFS has said that against a sanctioned strength of 3,311 fire operators, at present it has 2,371 personnel after 484 people joined the fire service this year.
It has also said that on May 30 a proposal was made to hire 500 fire operators on a contract basis for one year, to be extended till permanent .
