Chandigarh cop urges high court to fix 8-hour duty, offs for police

A Chandigarh Police cop has moved the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) seeking directions to the Chandigarh Police as well as the police heads of Punjab and Haryana to ensure introduction of eight-hour shift pattern in all police stations, along with weekly-offs to ensure efficient and people-friendly policing.

The cop, Jagjit Singh, who is a head constable, has demanded that the recommendations of the Bureau of Police Research and Development, 2006, whereby weekly-offs and fixed duty hours were recommended, be implemented.

The Police Act of 1861 mandates that “every police officer shall for all purpose as mandated in law would be considered always to be on duty and can be deployed for duty in part of the general police district.”

He has argued that due to this, working hours stretch up to 12-16 hours without any offs for rest and recuperation. Apart from health, the grueling and tedious work regime is also affecting the quality of police services. He said that an overworked police personnel will not able to perform to the best of his/her potential.

It was further argued that a Model Police Act was prepared by the Centre in 2012, according to which, the states were asked to take effective steps to ensure that average hours of duty of police officer do not exceed eight hours.

However, no steps have been taken by the Chandigarh Police, even after he submitted multiple representations.

The matter was taken by the bench of chief justice Krishna Murari and justice Arun Palli, however the hearing was deferred till October 4.