Sept. 7: The Bengal government plans to use a four-month window to train and use civic police volunteers in crime-prevention duties rather than traffic management alone in an apparent attempt to establish the utility of the 1.26 lakh-strong force in the middle of a legal battle.

In May, Justice Sanjib Banerjee of Calcutta High Court nullified the recruitment of civic police volunteers in the state in its entirety, describing the process as "sham". Effective from January 1 next year, the high court declared null and void the recruitment of all the 1.26 lakh civic police volunteers appointed since 2013.

The court had set aside with immediate effect the appointment of nearly 500 civic police volunteers in Bankura and announced a series of steps to clean up the recruitment process.

Allegations had been made that the process was being used to reward the foot soldiers of the ruling party. The volunteers, who get a daily wage of Rs 141 each, are used mostly for traffic management and assisting the police.

The government has challenged the verdict of Justice Banerjee before the division bench of Justices Nadira Patherya and D.P. Dey. The case is yet to come up for hearing.

Government sources said efforts were afoot to find ways to ensure that the civic volunteers continued to retain their jobs after December because of the sheer number of recruits. To put matters in perspective, the sources said, Bengal police have a strength of 66,000, about half of the total number of civic volunteers.

Justice Banerjee had directed the government to form a committee to frame recruitment guidelines and set up an examination policy. The court did not bar the existing volunteers from applying afresh after alterations were made to the recruitment procedure.

Apparently as the first step to increase their utility, the government is planning to use the volunteers in multiple policing activities such as intelligence-gathering, handling law-and-order situations and community policing instead of restricting them to traffic management in the districts.

The civic police volunteers will also assist in the verification of passport applications, maintain police stations and outposts and help in containing flare-ups.

The sources said the volunteers would be trained to do the jobs.

"Optimising the utility of the 1.26 lakh-strong force would help the state present a stronger case in court," a home department official said.

Another source said "various strategies" were being considered to safeguard the jobs of the volunteers. "The main thrust of the plan is to ensure that these people keep getting their salaries," the source said.

A bureaucrat said even if the government lost the court battle, it could float an alternative model to accommodate the volunteers and get cabinet sanction if their "utility is established".

Now, each police station has 100 to 700 civic volunteers at its disposal.

The recruitments were made over the past three years on the basis of the recommendations of a five-member committee selected by police superintendents. No written tests or interviews were held. Those who had passed Class VIII and had a "good moral character" were considered eligible for the job. The government had told the court that since the jobs were contractual, there was no need to conduct exams.

Senior officers in the police directorate said the volunteers had not been used effectively because of the "lack of proper training and initiatives". They said the rudimentary training now given to the volunteers do not arm them with the expertise required forcore policing duties.

The sources said four to five policemen would be given the job of guiding and training the volunteers attached to each police station. Earlier, this job was handled by one sub-inspector.

"We are planning to use them in crime-prevention duties. They could be useful in guarding ATMs and banks," said a police officer in Birbhum, which has 5,500 civic volunteers.

Another officer in the district said the civic volunteers could come in handy in implementing chief minister Mamata Banerjee's pet project - Safe Drive Save Life.

A section of police officers, however, said the volunteers' neutrality while performing law-and-order duties could come under question in the light of claims about their political affiliation and the alleged role this played in their recruitment.