HC asks govt to create robust grievance redressal system for police force

Chennai

Keeping this in mind, it asked the State to design a robust grievance redressal system for the police department and not merely confine to holding grievance redressal day on specific dates, especially with the police not having an association to highlight their grievances.

A division bench, comprising Justice N Kirubakaran (since retd) and Justice B Pugalendhi, made the observation while passing orders on a plea that sought to increase the per capita rate of the police force in Tamil Nadu and to pay the police a higher salary.

“There are no fixed working hours for the police force. Though it is stated eight hours, practically it is 24 hours as they have to deal with many problems. Therefore, the eight hour-norm in three shifts should be followed strictly so that police personnel are not subjected to mental stress, work pressure or agony,” the bench held.

Seeking to modernise the police force due to the increase in crimes, especially cybercrime, the bench led by Justice Kirubakaran said, “the police force is facing a lot of stress and agony due to unfilled vacancies. When they are facing a lot of risks in discharging their duties every day, they should be paid at least 10 per cent more than similarly placed government servants.”The bench also expressed displeasure over the setting up of police commission headed by an IAS officer in 2019 contrary to its earlier direction of setting up a commission headed by a retired judge of High Court, psychologist, psychiatrists, social worker, advocate who is an expert in service law, retired police officials and serving police officials to look into the grievance of the police personnel and to suggest remedial measures.

Further, noting that the court is not underestimating the work done by the commission as constituted, the order held, “it is appropriate to direct the State to reconstitute the commission as per the judgment made by this court within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. If psychologists, psychiatrists and other experts in various fields are members of the commission, they will be in a better position to understand the problems of police personnel and give remedial solutions,” the bench added.