Chandigarh, Jul 15 (IANS): The council of ministers in Punjab on Wednesday paved the way for the state police to become India's first force to draw on civilians as domain experts to give a high quality cutting edge to its investigative functions.

As many as 798 such experts will be recruited directly as plainclothes civilian support staff for the Punjab Investigation Bureau, which is all set to get a dose of fresh blood and a qualitative edge with the induction of 4,251 personnel, across different ranks and positions, as a result of the restructuring of the Punjab Police department.

The restructuring was approved by the Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, at a virtual meeting, according to an official spokesperson.

The restructuring, which will enable the bureau to make direct recruitments in the ranks of sub-inspectors, head constables and constables, will be done in a revenue-neutral manner, by abolishing 4,849 existing posts, thus ensuring that there is no additional financial burden on the state exchequer, the spokesperson said.

As per provisional plans, direct recruitment of 1,481 police officers will be undertaken across ranks, which would be a game changer as they will infuse fresh blood that will bring in the requisite skill-sets, expertise and experience to carry out specialised investigations, such cyber investigations, financial investigations for economic crimes, etc.

This will bring about a qualitative change in the investigation process, which is currently in the purview of the general cops in the Punjab Investigation Bureau that was set up in 2015.

It would help improve the quality of investigations in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substance cases against smugglers and suppliers.

Such recruitments of graduates in law, forensics and commerce and other domains would also give an opportunity to the educated youth of Punjab in getting jobs and making careers in the Punjab Police service.

These fresh recruitments would be done after taking out these posts from the purview of the Subordinate Service Selection Board through Police Recruitment Board.

This will enable the bureau to also fill 100 per cent posts (159 posts) of ministerial staff as per existing Punjab Police Ministerial Staff Rules and 798 posts of civilian support staff as per the new proposed service rules.

The remaining 1,947 posts of Subordinate Ranks (inspector to constables) out of the total 4,521 posts sanctioned in Punjab Bureau of Investigation would initially be filled by deputation from Punjab Police and, thereafter, by promotion from the ranks of the Punjab Bureau of Investigation.