CAPF jawans face eviction, penalties over GPRA scheme

Officers and jawans of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) are facing eviction notices and hefty penalties after exceeding the three-year limit prescribed for retaining Government accommodation under the General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA) scheme. It has triggered a debate with questions raised about the relaxation given to some other departments whose personnel work in less demanding conditions, and a review of the policy.

The issue gained currency as in some cases the damage charges are more than INR 1 crore. Over 800 CAPF personnel have been affected by damage charges imposed retrospectively on them by the Directorate of Estates for retention of GPRA beyond three years.

Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, in an August 4 letter to MoHUA secretary Srinivas R Katikithala, also flagged the relaxation in GPRA rules for CPWD employees stationed in border areas, permitting them to retain GPRA beyond three years until March 31, 2030.

“It may be appreciated that the nature of duties performed by CAPF personnel includes deployment in harsh climatic conditions and challenging terrains for prolonged periods, which is considerably more demanding compared to the other Central Government employees,” the home secretary said. The issue has sparked demands for a review of the policy, with serving and former CAPF personnel pointing out that their circumstances differ significantly from those of other Government employees, as most spend years deployed in high-risk areas with limited family accommodation options.

Officials said several serving and retired personnel have received eviction orders and recovery notices for alleged “unauthorised retention” of quarters beyond the permissible period. In some instances, the penal rent demanded exceeds INR 1 crore, sources added. The affected officers and men of these Forces are in panic as they are facing eviction notices along with stiff penalties.

“All of this has expectedly led to a feeling of distress among the affected CAPF personnel, which is also adversely affecting their morale,” Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan said in a recent communication to the secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

The paramilitary, now known as the Central Armed Police Force, personnel are allowed housing under the GPRA in Delhi and a few State Capitals to keep their families while they are posted in disturbed areas like Jammu and Kashmir, Northeast and Naxal-hit States. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), however, put a ceiling of three years for such accommodation to all Central Government departments, including paramilitary as well as other services.

The affected officers and men of these Forces are in panic as they are facing eviction notices along with stiff penalties.

The MoHUA, however, in a discriminatory move kept extending the exemption to the officers and staff of the Central Public Works Department on posting to border fencing, road and flood lighting projects along the frontiers with China, Pakistan and Bangladesh, including on peaceful borders. The latest extension to the CPWD was granted from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2030, doubling the nominal licence fee for the accommodation.

In keeping with national security requirements, the paramilitary personnel are posted continuously from one operational field theatre (non-family stations) to another without any break in line of duty, and they are pinning their hopes on the remedial measures likely to be taken by the Union Home Ministry for complete housing satisfaction to the personnel deployed in operational theatres.

In a letter dated December 2, 2025, the Union Home Ministry has sought the details of the personnel affected by penalties for retaining accommodation under GPRA beyond three years to move the appropriate authority to seek a waiver of damage charges imposed on the CAPF personnel and continuation of the facility till the end of the academic session.

The aggrieved officers and jawans of the Central paramilitary forces had earlier urged their respective Directors General for waiver of penalty/damage charges and allow extension of retention under GPRA. The Union Home Ministry is seized of the grievances.

Jawans and officers in these Forces said the one-time waiver of the penalties would not resolve the grievances completely, as their families will be left in the lurch after vacating the official bungalows in the national capital. “Besides battling tough terrain, high altitude adversities and facing the ultras on the ground, the CAPF personnel will be saddled with accommodating their families in private accommodations on high rent or will have to send them packing, mostly to the ancestral locations in non-urban areas in which case the education of their wards will be adversely affected,” insiders in the uniformed services said.

CAPFs are the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Assam Rifles, Sashastra Seema Bal, Central Industrial Security Force and National Security Guard.

Earlier, then Home Minister Rajnath Singh and then Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba also took-up the issue with MoHUA to keep the CAPF out of the purview of the change in the GPRA policy.