Govt taking steps to fill vacancies in SFIO: Pilot

To tide over the shortage of manpower in the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the government today said it is taking steps to fill vacancies in the multi-disciplinary agency.

In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot said that government is making efforts to obtain the required staff from lending organisations on deputation.

Manpower requirements are in the areas such as forensic audit, tax and capital market, he said.

Currently, SFIO has 53 officials in position compared to 95 technical posts. Besides, seven contractual appointments have been made against vacancies.

In order to fill up vacancies, SFIO has been regularly advertising in major newspapers.

Additionally, a proposal has been sent to Department of Personnel and Ministry of Finance for amendments to the existing rules to provide direct recruitment in case officers are not available for appointment on a deputation basis.

Pilot said that the Ministry is engaging services of retired government officers as consultants.

Generally, recruitment of staff in SFIO is mainly done on a deputation basis from other government agencies.

The Minister said that induction of more experts on contractual basis in specialised areas like cyber forensic and data analysis is under active consideration

The agency comes under the Corporate Affairs Ministry. It is looking into the high profile cases of several chit funds, including those belonging to the Saradha Group from West Bengal.