TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The State Home Department has warned that it would blacklist security agencies that fail to terminate those of their employees who have a criminal background.
Goa Police has been tasked with verifying the character and antecedents of private security guards coming to Goa from various states, to improve security of individuals and institutions that employ them.
“During the verification, even if one member is found involved in criminal activity, the concerned security firm will be directed to terminate his services. However, if it fails to comply with the order, government will not hesitate to blacklist the firm,” Additional Secretary (Home) Sanjiv Gadkar told Herald.
The government said the pre-employment antecedent check is mandatory before engaging a person in the services of security agencies to ensure that security standards are upheld. “Even if the person has a case pending investigation or pending trial, he should not be considered for the job. Whether the person is a security guard recruited by the agency or any other employee attached to it, everyone’s background check is being done,” he added.
The Home department has meanwhile already started the process of scrutinizing applications of around 50 security agencies which have applied for registration with the Goa government. More applications are expected in the ensuing days, Gadkar said.
It is learnt that over 300 non-registered security agencies are operating in Goa. According to an extra ordinary gazette notification, the security services have been asked to comply with the government directives, considering that most of them do not fulfil the requirements to obta in a license.
The registration comes with a rider that security agencies must have trained personnel, a training centre and also that antecedents of the owner should be disclosed to the government.
