The 26/11 Mumbai siege has failed to jolt Calcutta police, which are still functioning with as many as 3,700 vacant posts.

The state government submitted a report to the high court on Monday, stating that 3,701 of the 29,424 posts of the city police needed to be filled.

The report, on the preparedness of the force to tackle terror attacks, reveals that all 70 sub-inspector posts in the Calcutta Armed Police are vacant. The unit is deployed to guard vital installations and to quell any widespread trouble or disorder.

Also vacant are 196 sub-inspector posts (attached to the other units of the force), 255 posts of assistant sub-inspector and three posts of assistant commissioner.

In the IPS category, five posts of deputy commissioner and one post of joint commissioner need to be filled.

The report, affirmed by additional chief secretary Samar Ghosh failed to satisfy the division bench of Chief Justice J.N. Patel and Justice B. Bhattacharya, which dubbed it “incomplete”.

“The state will have to tell the court what steps it will take to fill up the vacant posts,” the bench ruled.

The bench also asked the government to state details of the quality of arms provided to the cops, training imparted to them to combat terrorism and expenses incurred for the modernisation of the force.

Subroto Mookherjee, an advocate of the court, had moved a petition early this year alleging that the state had failed to take adequate measures to ensure the safety of the city.

“In the past five years, the state had got Rs 1,000 crore from the Centre for the development and modernisation of the police. But it has failed to utilise the funds properly. A good number of posts in various categories have been lying vacant for years,” Mookherjee had claimed in the petition.

The people of Bengal, especially those in Calcutta and Howrah, have been living in constant fear since the terror attack on Mumbai on November 26, 2008, the lawyer had said.

“Yet, the authorities have failed to adequately equip the force. Most of the cops have not yet seen the AK-47 gun. They still use the double-barrel gun that dates back to the pre-Independence era. The force has not been trained in fighting terrorists,” he claimed.

In response to the petition, the division bench had asked the state to file a report stating details about the number of cops, and their training and arms.

The government it its first report on September 4 had only mentioned the funds it had received from the Centre over the past seven years for modernisation of the force.

The bench then asked the government to file a fresh report, which too did not contain the relevant information.

“Come with a detailed report. We will hear the matter again on September 10,” the bench said.