CHENNAI: Police officials must examine their conscience and question whether they are entitled to use personnel for personal work, a division bench of the Madras High Court observed while stressing the need to abolish the ‘orderly system’.
The bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and K Surender made the remarks while hearing a petition filed by A Radhakrishnan seeking action against encroachments on government land and highlighting the shortage of police personnel for eviction duties.
The court warned that a lack of such conscience would undermine democratic principles and the ethos of the Constitution. It urged the Director General of Police to file a positive affidavit ensuring that the system is abolished once and for all.
Though the colonial-era practice of engaging police personnel as orderlies for domestic chores was officially scrapped in 1979, the bench noted that it continues in practice.
Emphasising that police personnel are trained for public service and not for attending to private needs of senior officers, the court granted time till April 27 for compliance.
The extension followed submissions by Advocate General PS Raman that steps would be taken after the Assembly elections, with the DGP seeking time for full implementation.