Panel recommends 35% pay hike for police in Karnataka

The committee constituted to examine the pay scale of policemen in Karnataka has recommended a hike of 35% in the salary of constables, head constables, assistant sub-inspectors, sub-inspectors, police inspectors, deputy superintendents of police and superintendents of police (non IPS).

ADGP (recruitment) Raghavendra Auradkar, who is the chairperson of the Committee to Examine Disparities in Pay and Allowance of Police, met Home Minister G Parameshwara at Vikasa Soudha on Monday and submitted the report. The government had constituted the committee on June 28, 2016.

The committee comprised Kamal Pant, ADGP (KSRP), Pratap Reddy, ADGP (CID) and Hemanth Nimbalkar, IGP (CID), as members and Umesh Kumar, IGP (headquarters), as member secretary.

The officers made a comparative analysis of the pay scale of the policemen in Karnataka and in Punjab, Kerala, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal and made the recommendations.

“The Karnataka police are in the 8th slot at present in terms of salary, compared to their counterparts in other states. They will move up to the 5th slot if the recommendations are implemented in toto,” Home Minister Parameshwara told reporters after receiving the report. Parameshwara, however, was non-committal about the implementation of the recommendations.

“I will submit the report to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The recommendations will be discussed in the cabinet. Approval of the Finance department is mandatory before implementing the recommendations. There is no timeframe for the implementation,” he said.

“Attrition rate (staff quitting their jobs) in the police department was high in the last few years due to recruitment in other departments. The report indicates that those who left the department preferred office work to field work. Parameshwara did not answer to a query on whether working conditions in the police department, harassment by senior officers and lack of leaves forced the constables to quit, when there are better prospects in other departments.