The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Delhi Police Commissioner to re-look at the circular relating to working hours of station house officers (SHO) in the Capital with a ‘humane’ approach. A division bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath gave the direction on a plea seeking withdrawal of the September 2012 circular which asks officers to be on duty twenty four hours without any leave and does not allow them to go home unless they have permission from their seniors.
“Have a re-look into your circular. Have some humane approach towards the officers.... How can they stay away from their family...,” the bench said and asked the counsel to seek instruction from the department by July 31, the next date of hearing.
The bench was hearing a PIl seeking withdrawal of police circulars relating to alleged inhuman working conditions of SHOs claiming people of Delhi would suffer by way of ‘degraded and inefficient policing’.
The petitioner said, “Both the circulars of August 30, 1995 and September 10, 2012 are not in conformity with the Delhi Police Act and Article 21 of the Constitution of India and are also not according to the general conscience of a human being.”
The court order came after an affidavit was filed by the police which said that the job of the police officer was of ‘urgent and emergent’ nature and directly relates to public service, so the police be allowed to continue with this practice for better public service.