The Delhi High Court has sought MHA’s response on a PIL alleging BSF and CAPF personnel are misused as domestic workers at senior officers’ homes. The plea warns such misuse threatens national security amid 83,000 vacancies.
New Delhi: On September 3, the Delhi High Court issued notice to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Border Security Force (BSF) after a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) raised serious concerns about the misuse of BSF and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) personnel.
The plea alleges that soldiers are being diverted from their national duty and made to work as domestic help in the private homes of senior police and CAPF officers.0
A Division Bench led by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay sought responses from the authorities and listed the matter for hearing in January next year.
The PIL has been filed by a serving Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the BSF, Sanjay Yadav. While the respondents questioned his locus standi, his counsel argued that even though Yadav had earlier faced punishment for similar misuse of BSF manpower, this “does not preclude him from raising this issue.”
The court noted that the issue pointed out by the petitioner “exists.” The petition has been moved through advocate Dr. Surendra Singh Hooda.
According to the plea,
“such a gross misuse of manpower, especially at a time when there are over 83,000 vacancies in CAPFs and Assam Rifles, poses a serious threat to national security and law and order, apart from causing an undue strain on the public exchequer.”
The petitioner said that the practice has become a norm, where soldiers are taken away from their border security or law-and-order duties and
“various soldiers of the BSF are diverted from performing official duties on the border or on law-and-order duties and are detailed for performing domestic functions in the private houses of high-ranking officers.”
Highlighting shocking examples, the petition said:
“Our country’s soldiers are even deployed specificaly to take care of a high-ranking officer’s dog. The petitioner being a serving Deputy Inspector General in BSF, has first-hand knowledge of the said practice.”
The plea also points to an earlier attempt to control this problem.
“It is also said that after realising the alarming situation and sought to rectify the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) issued an Office Memorandum (OM) on 21.09.2016.”
The 2016 OM directed all authorities, including State Chief Secretaries, Union Territories, CAPFs, Assam Rifles, and State Police Chiefs, to stop the use of personnel, vehicles, and security facilities at the homes of retired officials within a month of their retirement.
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“The said OM directed all Chief Secretaries of State Governments, Union Territories, heads of Central Armed Police Forces & Assam Rifles, Central Police Organisations and Director General of Police in the State Governments to ensure that various privileges such as personnel at residences, vehicles, personal security, etc., are withdrawn within a period of one month after retirement, the plea said.”
Further,
“The OM further provided that in the event a retired officer fails to follow the above instructions, they should be required to pay for the various privileges, including those afforded to serving officials. Those who fail to withdraw unauthorised manpower and privileges should be proceeded against, it added.”
After this direction, BSF prepared a list of 131 personnel who were found working illegally in the homes of retired police and CAPF officers.
The plea said:
“After the issuance of the DoPT OM, BSF compiled a list of as many as 131 personnel who were performing duties unauthorizedly with various retired Police and CAPF officers. In fact, the total number of personnel unauthorizedly deployed is much higher, the plea emphasised.”
The petitioner further stated:
“The petitioner has claimed that even after compilation of the list, the BSF authorities have failed to take any action to withdraw the unauthorised manpower or to recover payment from retired officers in respect of such unauthorised manpower use.”
Although a few isolated withdrawals have taken place, the petitioner alleged that
“certain isolated cases of withdrawal may exist; however, the gens practice of unauthorised deployment of manpower continues rampantly. It is necessary to state that the petitioner only has first-hand information about non- compliance of the DoPT OM and continued unauthorised deployment of manpower in the Border Security Force.”
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The plea mentioned that Yadav had earlier sent a legal notice highlighting these issues, but no action was taken.
“The petitioner highlighted, as he claims, the said issues by way of a Legal Notice, but the authorities have not taken any action to remedy the situation. Therefore, a thorough and detailed inquiry by an independent authority is required to assess the exact misuse of manpower by high-ranking officials and its adverse impact on the safety and security of the country, the plea said.”
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