West Bengal has handed appointment letters to 11,000 state police recruits, ending a recruitment process that had remained stalled for an extended period and marking the first major police hiring exercise under the state’s BJP government, Sangbad Pratidin reported on October 12.
The appointment letters were distributed at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, according to the report. The recruitment had been delayed amid a dispute over appointments under the Other Backward Classes category and legal proceedings involving the state government and courts.
Adhikari said the recruitment process had been completed within five and a half months after the government addressed the OBC-related issue. He said the previous government had challenged a High Court Division Bench order in the Supreme Court and that the present administration had since moved out of that litigation. The claims were reported as statements made by the chief minister at the appointment event.
“Government change was necessary for this recruitment to happen,” Adhikari said, according to Sangbad Pratidin. He also told the recruits that recruitment would follow prescribed rules and that there would be no compromise in the oral or physical assessment processes.
The chief minister said the government intended to make merit the sole criterion for public-sector recruitment. He also asked the new police personnel to avoid corruption and unfair practices after joining the force.
The announcement comes amid a wider recruitment schedule outlined at the event. Adhikari said 300 candidates had been selected for the Kolkata Police and that the results of recruitment examinations for 4,000 posts would be published by December. He also announced 9,000 new police recruitment notifications and said 650 police clerical posts would be filled through the Public Service Commission.
The report said the chief minister also promised another police recruitment process in January and regular recruitment each year. These announcements indicate that the administration intends to move from a one-time appointment exercise towards a recurring recruitment cycle, although the report did not provide a detailed calendar, sanctioned-strength figure or budget allocation for the proposed posts.
Adhikari also referred to the role of civic volunteers in the previous administration’s policing system. He said civic volunteers had not undergone minimum examinations and that training was necessary to maintain discipline. The government had increased civic volunteer numbers by 2,000 ahead of the festival season, he said, while adding that civic volunteers themselves should not be blamed.
The chief minister further claimed that West Bengal would have a larger police force than Uttar Pradesh within two years. The report did not provide the current police strength of either state or explain how the comparison would be calculated.
For the 11,000 recruits receiving appointment letters, the immediate next step will be induction and training before they assume regular policing responsibilities. The state’s additional recruitment announcements will depend on the publication of examination results, fresh notifications and appointments through the stated recruitment channels.
