By P. Sreekumaran
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An attempt by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Government in Kerala to politicize the police force has failed with the High Court frustrating the move.
The court has stayed the operation of an order by the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to reorganize the Kerala Police Association (KPA), on the recommendation of the State Police chief.
The KPA had filed a petition, contending that the order violated its fundamental right to form associations under the Constitution of India. Only the Union Government had the power to modify any rights conferred on a citizen who was part of the armed forces in charge of maintaining public order. The order was made, the petition argued, without stating the reasons for the reconstitution of the police associations.
The Secretary’s order envisaged the revamp of all civil police officers, senior civil police officers, grade assistant sub-inspectors, assistant sub-inspectors and grade sub-inspectors. Senior officers above the rank of sub-inspectors up to Superintendent of Police would be included in the Kerala Police Senior Officers Association (KPSOA). It also abolished the Kerala Police Officers Association (KPOA). As per the order, 60 per cent of KPOA’s bank accounts, documents, deposits and investments and assets were to be given to the Kerala Police Association and 40 per cent to KPSOA. The reorganization order had also directed the formation of ad-hoc committees by the State Police chief at the State and district levels to take over administration of the KPOA, after freezing the operation of the elected committees.
The committee was also asked to conduct elections for the two newly constituted associations before September 30. The court also ordered that the committee would not function until further orders.
In an oral remark, the court made it clear that once the two bodies come into operation, there would be no going back, adding that the petitioner had approached the court at the right time. Once a right to form an association is conferred, taking back that right is not easy.
The court also enquired about the basis on which the 60:40 ratio was decided for the division of KPOA’s assets. The Court found merit in the contentions raised by the petitioner.
On its part, the State argued that at present there were three associations, KPA, consisting of police personnel in the lower rank, the KPOA, comprising officers in the rank of assistant sub-inspectors, sub-inspectors and circle inspectors. The KPSOA consists of Deputy Superintendent of Police and Superintendent of Police (non-IPS), which was instituted under the recommendation of the National Police Commission. It stated that the order was aimed at benefiting the police force as a whole since Senior Officers Association only had two categories of senior officers. The petitioner’s argument was that the three associations had been functioning independently with different objectives.
The KPOA, however, lost no time in challenging its dissolution in the High Court. The KPOA, which has nearly 11,000 members, maintained that a two-thirds majority in its general body alone had the power to change its constitution. The incumbent office-bearers were elected in August 25 for a two-year term, but the July 27 Government order radically changed the membership structure of police associations, rendering the KPOA defunct.
The petition further says that the Government had no power, authority or jurisdiction to abolish a recognized association, amend its by-law by executive order, induct members into other associations, and merge or dissolve it. Therefore, the petition sought the setting aside of the said order.
On their part, police officers contend that the proposed reconstitution was illogical: their reasoning is that each of the three recognized associations represented a specific category of officials. Each of these categories would have vastly different grievances and service-related issues, a police officer said. He also pointed to the question of hierarchy being affected if a merger were to be engineered.
The Court order has vindicated the stand taken by the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Pinarayi Vijayan who had criticized the State Government’s move to “unilaterally” revamp the police organisations in the State with the express objective of bringing the police force fully under the control of the political interests of the ruling administration.
In a facebook post, Pinarayi had termed the move as undemocratic. He pointed out that the police organisations have been operating in the State since 1979. He accused the UDF Government of dictatorially revamping the organizational system without holding discussions with the parties concerned.
Pinarayi further contended that the establishment of ad-hoc committees while the democratically elected committees exist is a “blatant encroachment on organizational freedom, which is unacceptable. It is clear that the ulterior motive behind the move is to politicize the police force and turn them into a force that bends to the Government’s whims,” he added.
In the light of the court order, the LoP opined that the Government should immediately withdraw from the move, which deprives police organisations of their democratic rights. (IPA Service)
