Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: August 14, 2022 at 17:50 IST
The Madras High Court held in U. Manickavel v. The State of Tamil Nadu that the practise of engaging uniformed police officers to perform menial jobs at the homes of higher-ranking officers, which is common in the Police Department, is a slap on the country’s Constitution and democracy.
It is a “colonial enslavement system,” according to single-judge Justice SM Subramaniam, and it needs to be abolished immediately.
The Court further observed,
“We, the people of India, are celebrating the 75th year of Independence. It is painful to pen down that the colonial slavery system of extracting household and menial work in the residences of the higher police officials is still prevailing in the State of Tamil Nadu. It is a slap on the Constitution and the democracy of our great nation,”.
The single judge further added that higher police officials in Tamil Nadu still adhere to the system of colonial slavery even though the country is moving towards a vibrant democracy.
The Indian Constitution requires a “public servant” to serve the public alone, the Court further emphasised.
The Bench was told by a petition that the “orderly” system was still being used in Tamil Nadu, even though the state government had abolished it in 1979.
The Director General of Police (DGP) issued a memorandum on August 5 instructing Police officials not to engage the junior personnel in household tasks following the Court’s previous interim orders and government orders in this matter.
After that, some 19 of these employees were withdrawn from the higher officials’ residences.
The Court did state, however, that “it is aware of the fact that a significant number of uniformed police employees are still engaged in domestic and support activities at the residences of the higher police officials.
To effectuate the orders in this matter, the Bench ordered that the DGP be impleaded as a party and directed him to file an affidavit outlining his implementation plan.
The following matter’s next hearing would take place on August 18.