Kerala High Court strikes down police association restructuring order
The Kerala High Court has quashed a State order that split the Kerala Police Officers Association and merged it with two other police bodies. The court said the government lacked authority to restructure the recognised associations and also set aside an ad hoc committee created to oversee the transition.
The Kerala High Court has quashed a State government order that bifurcated the Kerala Police Officers Association and merged it with the Kerala Police Association and Kerala Police Senior Officers Association. Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas disposed of petitions filed by the Kerala Police Association and the Kerala Police Officers Association challenging the order issued by the Additional Chief Secretary (Home). The order divided the Kerala Police Officers Association’s assets between the two other associations in a 60:40 ratio.
It also froze the association’s elected committees and established an ad hoc committee at State and district levels to administer its affairs during the transition. The court quashed both the restructuring order and the provision creating the ad hoc committee. It held that the government was not authorised to reorganise the three police associations in the manner ordered.
The judgment said that although an association did not possess a fundamental right, a recognised association was entitled to have its by-laws protected from violation, including by the government. The court observed that only the Inspector General had authority to grant, refuse or revoke recognition. The court also referred to the Police Forces (Restriction of Rights) Act, 1966.
It said that even if the State possessed the relevant power, the rules required an association to be given a reasonable opportunity to make representations before recognition was revoked. The Kerala Police Officers Association argued that the State could not dissolve a recognised association, alter its by-laws through executive action, transfer its members or merge it while it was functioning under its own rules. It sought protection for its existence, elected body, funds and independent legal status.
The Kerala Police Association separately argued that the order infringed the constitutional right to form associations and that the Additional Chief Secretary was not authorised to issue it.
This independently written report is based on information supplied by the named publisher. Vertrix News has not independently verified the source report.