Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 17: In response to revelations about the informal deployment of police personnel in various courts and tribunals across Jammu and Kashmir, the Police Headquarters (PHQ) has ordered the immediate detachment of 409 officers back to their parent units.
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This decision followed a comprehensive evaluation aimed at assessing the deployment, duties, and accountability of these personnel, which exposed significant inefficiencies and suboptimal resource utilization.
A PHQ order said that in an internal exercise, it was found that a total of 442 police personnel, excluding those officially deputed to the Prosecution Directorate had been informally assigned to court duties by different police units.
These deployments were spread across various zones and wings including 224 personnel in Kashmir Zone, 124 in Jammu Zone, Crime (26), CID (15), Armed (7), Railway (5), Security (4), and Traffic (37), it said.
According to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) auditing norms and PHQ assessments, such informal assignments, even if made in good faith, resulted in inefficient use of resources.
As such, the PHQ determined that these roles could be executed more effectively through a rationalized deployment system with enhanced accountability.
A detailed examination revealed that 79 of these personnel were deployed in the High Court of J&K and the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
For instance, 41 officers were deployed at the Srinagar seat of the High Court, with an average of more than five officers per court for eight courts.
A similar scenario was observed at the Jammu High Court. Despite this substantial deployment, only eight officers (five in Srinagar and three in Jammu) were actively engaged in specific legal support roles, such as pairvi work.
The remainder were found to be vaguely functioning as district, battalion, or unit representatives without clear tasking or accountability.
This inefficiency prompted the PHQ to issue an order, endorsed as Number Pros/PHQ/24/13779 dated May 14, 2024, for the reassignment of these personnel.
Consequently, 409 police officers were detached from their court duties and directed to report back to their parent units immediately.
The directive clearly stipulated that no unit shall attach or deploy police personnel to any court or court-like entities without prior PHQ approval.
Any such attachments must be communicated to PHQ, with copies of the orders shared accordingly, ordered PHQ.
The reassignment order further mandated that the detached officers’ services be reallocated to general duties or roles suitable to their qualifications.
Additionally, unit heads are required to submit detailed reports on the work performed by these officers during their court assignments.
These reports must be submitted to the Joint Director of Prosecution (JDP) at PHQ within 15 days from the order’s issuance date, ordered PHQ.
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