PESHAWAR, Aug 1: The forensic science laboratory of the police department is likely to become ineffective if the government fails to make fresh appointments prior to the retirement of the existing staff during the next three years.

“The strength of staff be increased and fresh science graduates be inducted immediately so that they may get on the job training and experience and be ready to fill up the forthcoming gap of experts in different fields of forensic sciences,” said a letter sent to the AIG (Investigation), NWFP, by the director of the FSL last year.

According to the letter, the government is yet to provide a proper service structure for the staff of the FSL despite several reminders, which had caused disappointment among them.

It had also requested him to sanction service structure for the employees who were awaiting promotions to the next grade since 1976.

The FSL and the Finger Print Bureau (FPB) were established before partition but were re-organised in 1976 and an SP was made its director. Subsequently, promotions were made to the next grade from the existing staff according to their fitness and qualification from 1978 to 1981.

Being the employees of the police department, they performed technical duties such as finger prints examination, chemical analysis of rape victims, vehicle examination, narcotics, fire arms, documents’ examinations, drawing sketches of suspected suicide bombers, etc. But lack of service structure had created a heart-burn among its 85 employees.

According to the contents of the letter, the FSL carried out 2,300 cases in 1976 from less than 100 police stations in 12 districts of the province. The number of districts had increased to 24 and police stations to 240 since and the FSL is required to conduct 60,000 examinations on average per year with the same number of staff.

Not only this but some of the persons had retired but their posts remained unfilled. An inspector and sub-inspector, who were working against the vacant posts of DSP (chemical examiner) and inspector (chemical expert), had not been promoted as yet.

Officials at the FSL said that their counterparts in the district police were getting regular promotions. They said: “The people who had been appointed with us are now working as DSPs, while we are still working as ASIs.”

The FSL staff also performed duties during elections and natural calamities but were never sent abroad in UN missions like regular police.

On the one hand, the role of the FSL is all the more important because they provide scientific evidence to support field investigations regarding crimes, but they were not given the desired attention in terms of promotions and incentives. The FSL staff visit crime scenes throughout the province and collect circumstantial evidence so as to strengthen their investigation.

The issue of FSL staff was also debated in the provincial assembly on February 2 last year. Most of them were supposed to retire after two or three years and the FSL will be left with the services of no technical personnel if fresh appointments were not made.

The assembly had discussed and suggested to the government that a quota of promotion as per pattern of prosecuting DSPs of police to the rank of SP out of the 40 per cent quota reserved for the senior posts prescribed for the provincial police officers may be provided to the DSPs of FSL.

A source said: “Despite the passage of one and a half years of the assembly’s debate, the situation remains the same.

A similar reminder regarding these problems had also been sent to the government in March 2005, but that also fell on deaf ears.”

Sources said the SP, who acts as director of the FSL, is appointed from regular police despite the fact that he is not a technical person.