Loaded with 2G,CWG scams,ED wants more staff,offices

The investigating arm of the Ministry of Finance,is planning to substantially beef up its operations,both in terms of head count and offices.

Burdened by a rising number of pending cases,the Enforcement Directorate (ED),the investigating arm of the Ministry of Finance,is planning to substantially beef up its operations,both in terms of head count and offices.

The agency has been under immense pressure with several high-profile cases including the Indian Premier League and Commonwealth Games being registered in the current year. Facing a huge shortage of investigating staff,the directorate has sent a proposal to the expenditure department in the finance ministry to increase its workforce by 4-5 times. The agency has also proposed to take the number of offices to 38 from the current 21,agency sources told The Indian Express.

Currently,the agency,which has the mandate to look into violations related to the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA),has over 700 employees including both Group C and D the supporting staff. There are over 90 officers including assistant directors who are responsible for carrying out investigation while others are involved in administrative work. Hence the actual work force,the sources said,is unable to handle the rising number of cases. The investigating agency has proposed an increase in staff to around 2,000 people to be able to tackle the cases.

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Since the government is also planning to introduce further changes in the PMLA that would include several other entities to be covered by the ED. The source said that it was important for the agency to equip itself for the increased workload.

The ED has also sent a proposal for increasing its zonal and sub zonal offices across the country from 21 to 38. As of now,the agency has zonal offices in big cities like Mumbai,Delhi,Chennai,Kolkata,Ahmedabad,Bangalore,Hyderabad,Lucknow,Cochin and Chandigarh while sub zonal offices in Jaipur,Jalandhar,Srinagar,Guwahati,Patna,Calicut,Indore,Nagpur and Bhubneshwar.

The agency has argued that there are places in the country where 2-3 offices are required in a state but have just one at present. Similarly,sub-zonal offices are too required in places like Shimla where presently they have no establishment. Having more offices would mean better police coordination and better cooperation with other investigating agencies too,the source said.

This year,the ED was tasked with cases including former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda,irregularities in IPL and CWG with the latest being 2G spectrum scam and UP food-grain scam.