The Supreme Court has asked high courts across the country to take suo motu cognisance of large number of vacancies in State police forces and monitor the situation.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi recently observed in an order that “one of the central issues” canvassed in a PIL was the “large number” of vacancies in the different posts in the police forces across States.

The apex court said the high courts, rather than the Supreme Court, would be in a better position to effectively monitor the filling up of these vacancies. It said the problem was State-specific.

“The issue and problems are State-specific and can be appropriately dealt with by the respective high courts,” the apex court observed.

The PIL was filed by Manish Kumar seeking a series of directions, including the constitution of a Police Commission to deal with allegations of police action, redressal of grievances of police officers and their welfare. It also wanted the court to direct the Centre to evolve a mechanism to prevent violent mass agitations and destruction of life and property.