Finalise SFIO recruitment rules soon: Parliament panel tells MCA

NEW DELHI: Concerned over inadequate capacity building at the SFIO, a Parliamentary panel has pulled up the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for failing to finalise recruitment rules for the probe agency.

The recruitment rules should be finalised "without any loss of time", the committee has said while observing that the agency has also seen an increase in fund allocation from the Ministry.

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which mainly probes cases involving violation of the companies law, has been grappling with manpower shortage for some time.

In its report tabled in Parliament on December 3, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance said it was constrained to observe that capacity building has not materialised at the investigation agency.

The report is on the action taken by the Ministry on the recommendations made by the panel earlier on Demands for Grants (2015-16).

Despite increase in allocation of funds, the panel said, capacity building within the agency does not seem to have materialised as recruitment rules are still pending finalisation even after a lapse of so many years and without any timeline commitment to do so.

It has recommended that the recruitment rules should be finalised without further loss of time and "not later than one month of presentation of this report".

SFIO has 28 categories of posts and recruitment rules are yet to be framed for seven categories. Besides, amendments are to be made with respect to 15 categories.

The Budget estimate for SFIO was nearly 20 per cent higher at Rs 11.56 crore in the current financial year (2015-16).

In its submission to the panel, the Ministry said the recruitment rules are under finalisation and "efforts are being made to notify these in the current financial year".

As part of efforts to strengthen its capabilities, SFIO is hiring individual experts and consultants besides empanelling chartered accountant firms.

Chartered accountants are being empanelled for taking up assignments relating to forensic audit, analysis of financial data and interpretation of financial statements, among others, in connection with investigations under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013.

Since inception in 2003, as many as 301 cases have been assigned to SFIO. Out of them, 209 cases were taken up by the agency in the last three years.

"Out of the total 1,160 prosecutions/complaints filed by SFIO since its inception till July 1, 2015, 137 cases have been disposed of by various courts... There are 1,023 prosecution cases pending at different stages of court proceedings," the report said, citing data provided by the Ministry.