Yet another decision of the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh has been caught in the legal wrangle. This time, it is entrusting police duties to 14,000-odd women village secretaries.
In June this year, the Jagan government issued an order (GO. No. 59) bringing 14,910 women secretaries working in village and ward secretariats under the purview of the home ministry.
These women secretaries would be completing two years of probation shortly and their services would be regularised soon.
The government has re-designated them as women police and entrusted them with police powers and duties. They would be trained like regular police constables and would also be given the uniform of the police women.
The GO was challenged by an advocate Areti Umamaheshwar Rao of Visakhapatnam in the state high court in the form of a public interest litigation.
He argued that the decision was in contravention of the Section 1, 6, 11 and 21 of AP District Police Act and also Criminal Procedure Code.
He argued that all the appointments in the police department should be done through Police Recruitment Board. In fact, even home guards are not treated as the police, though they, too, do policing.
So, redesignating women secretaries as the police and giving them powers is against the law, he said.
The high court, which heard the arguments on Tuesday, asked the government to explain how women secretaries would be given police powers.
It also found fault with the decision to allow these women police to resolve civil disputes, which is against the Supreme Court judgement.
The high court issued notices to chief secretary, director general of police, home secretary, police recruitment board and APPSC chairman, asking them to file their respective counters immediately. It said interim orders would be issued after going through the counters.
