Kochi: The state govt has moved the high court, challenging a single bench order that set aside govt orders dissolving the Kerala Police Officers Association and restructuring the Kerala Police Association, as well as the formation of an ad hoc committee.
The additional chief secretary of the home department issued an order on July 27 restructuring the KPA by extending its membership to grade assistant sub inspectors, assistant sub inspectors and grade sub inspectors. However, the single bench set aside the order on a petition filed by the association’s office-bearers, holding that it violated the right to form associations guaranteed under Article 19(1)(c) of the Constitution. Recognition does not make a police association an ordinary voluntary association or exempt it from the restrictions imposed by Article 33 of the Constitution and the Police Forces (Restriction of Rights) Act, 1966, and the Rules governing such associations, the govt argued. The state police chief examined the existing associational structure and recommended changes to the membership composition of the existing associations in a proposal dated July 1, according to the appeal.
The additional chief secretary of the home department subsequently issued the orders based on the proposal, the appeal said. A bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and A K Preetha issued notice to the association in the appeal. G R Ajith and A P Sugunan, members of the ad hoc committee, have also filed appeals challenging the single bench order quashing the govt order dissolving the Kerala Police Association (KPA). The court also observed that the recognition granted to the police associations had not been revoked by either the state police chief or the govt. Challenging the order, the state govt contended that the single bench had failed to appreciate the special constitutional and statutory framework governing the formation, functioning, reconstitution and revocation of police associations in the state. The appeal also cited Supreme Court rulings recognising that members of the police force stand on a different footing from members of ordinary associations. The govt further contended that the restructuring was not undertaken independently of the prescribed authority.