Parity between salaries of police, home guards not possible: Delhi HC

NEW DELHI: Salaries and perks paid to police personnel cannot be equated with that of home guards as there is no parity between their service condition, the Delhi high court has ruled.

Holding that home guards are engaged on temporary basis whereas the employment of the police personnel has a permanent feature, said a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar.

The two cadres are entirely different, it said.

“Neither the salary nor the perks being paid to the police personnel can be extended to the home guards working in Delhi. Moreover... it appears that enough and adequate care has been taken by the respondents for the home guards, e.g., Rule 18 of the Delhi Home Guards Rules prescribes compensation to be paid to the home guards,” the bench said in a recent order.

The remuneration paid to home guards was ₹15,840 per mon t h i n 2 0 1 6 a n d i t wa s increased to ₹20,820 from 2018, the high court noted. “Thus, in a period of two years, the rise in remuneration is approximately 31%. This rise in remuneration is too much. Enough is enough. Home Guards cannot expect more than this much rise in remuneration,” the bench said.

Referring to a Supreme Court judgement, the high court said the duties and responsibilities of the home guards and police personnel are entirely different.

“These two are entirely different cadres; one is temporary in nature and another is permanent in nature; one is a voluntary body whereas another is recruited under Delhi Police Act, 1978,” the bench noted.

“Thus, we see no reason to give any direction and much less to issue a writ for the facilities demanded by the petitioner. Nevertheless, the demand raised by the respondents may be taken care of by the respondents at an appropriate stage looking to the budgetary provis i o n s a v a i l a b l e wi t h the respondent and looking to their own priorities,” the high court said.