CCB to take up complaints only above Rs 50 lakh: CoP

In an internal communication (CPO No 1789/2017) dated June 8, 2017, addressed to all police Inspectors (Crime and L&O), Assistant and Deputy Commissioners, Commissioner of Police AK Viswanathan has ordered that the CCB will take up monetary grievances only if the sum involved is above Rs 50 lakh. 

Until now, the CCB handled such cases if the amount exceeded Rs 25 lakh.

When contacted, Lalitha Lakshmi, Deputy Commissioner (CCB-II), said that the revision is periodically done based on various factors such as strength of the force, prevailing value of currency and the number of complaints received.

“Currently, the CCB handles over 6,000 such cases and with the present strength, it may not be possible to tackle such a huge volume of cases. So, the decision is understood to have been taken to reduce the burden on the CCB personnel,” the Deputy Commissioner said. She also said that the slab was last revised in 2011 and added that the present value of money is not the same as it was six years ago, thus justifying the decision. While the revision means that the number of monetary cases handled by the CCB will come down considerably, the local police stations, which are already handling cases beyond their capacity, will be burdened with more cases involving money. 

“Cases involving money, be it chit fund frauds or non-repayment of loans are steadily increasing at the police stations. Now, with the Commissioner’s order, the number of cases we need to handle will double, burdening us,” said an Inspector attached to a city police station, on condition of anonymity.