HC commends DGP for obtaining undertakings from officers against engaging policemen for household work

Sylendra Babu informs the court that he conducted a comprehensive audit of policemen deputed in residences and withdrew 430 excess personnel

The Madras High Court on Thursday commended Director- General of Police (DGP) C. Sylendra Babu for having obtained written undertakings from all senior police officers in the State not to put police personnel deployed in their camp/home offices for official work to household or menial work.

Justice S.M. Subramaniam told Additional Advocate-General P. Kumaresan that the court was impressed with the conviction of the DGP in putting an end to the colonial practice of engaging orderlies and for having been the first person to sign the undertaking. “This is a very appreciable action,” the judge said, after reading the format of the undertaking produced in court.

He had on August 12 directed the DGP to file a counter-affidavit listing the steps taken by him so far to abolish, in letter and spirit, the colonial orderly system of engaging policemen to perform household work in the residences of top police officers. He also wanted to know the action taken against the use of black films in police vehicles and police stickers in private vehicles.

Accordingly, the DGP filed an affidavit on Thursday stating that certain colonial practices continued in the police department even after Independence and hence the State government issued an order on September 5, 1979, abolishing the orderly system in accordance with a decision taken at the Chief Ministers’ conference held in New Delhi on June 6, 1979.

Thereafter, police personnel were deputed on an Other Duty (OD) basis only for performing official work at the camp/home offices of top officers. Since police officials work round the clock, they required support staff such as drivers, office assistants, computer operators and wireless communication equipment operators even at their residences, the DGP said.

Conceding that there had been allegations of police personnel having been used for household work by some top officers, the DGP said, “Unfortunately, without adequate knowledge of how the camp office functions, certain sections of the media have wrongly formed an impression that all the higher police officers are involved in wrongdoings.”

The DGP said a camp/home office would normally require 10 police personnel to attend to wireless messages, phone calls, computer operations, driving standby vehicles, receiving letters and attending to rudimentary office works. Now, he had conducted a comprehensive audit to find out the number of police personnel working on an OD basis.