Karnataka hikes salaries of police personnel

The State government on Tuesday issued an order hiking the salaries and allowances of police personnel as recommended by the 6th Pay Commission and the Audarkar Committee, bringing cheer to thousands of uniformed men and women.

The government order came two days before the trust vote which will determine the future of the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government. The wage hike will come into force from August 1 and will cost an additional Rs 630 crore per year to the State Exchequer. Though the Committee headed by IPS officer Raghavendra Auradkar had recommended a 30% wage hike, the State government agreed a 12.5 per cent hike.

Apart from it, several other amendments were made during the implementation of the Auradkar committee report to reduce the burden on the State.

“(sic) The 6th State Pay Commission after examining the proposal of the Home department in the light of the recommendations of the Raghavendra Auradkar Committee has recommended upgrading the pay scale of Police personnel working in certain cadres in the Police department,” the order read.

According to a release, wage hike of both constables and head-constables were as per the recommendations of the Committee. There was no revision in the wages of Police Sub-Inspectors (PSI) and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP). While PSIs salary was not hiked citing that they drew maximum salary of ‘C’ group employees, proposal to increase DySP salaries were not accepted.

While the committee had recommended an increase of salaries by two slabs to Assistant Sub-inspectors, the State increased it by one slab. Similarly, against a recommendation of three slabs, Police Inspector salaries were increased by two slabs.

It can be recalled that the Committee was set up in 2016 by the State government to “look into the differences between salary and allowances of policemen in Karnataka and of other neighbouring states.” Headed by Auradkar, the committee consisted of four other IPS officers - Kamal Pant, C H Pratap Reddy, M Hemant Nimbalkar and K Ramachandra Rao.

Soon after the government order, Home Minister M B Patil tweeted saying that the State government has succeeded in fulfilling the long-standing demands of police personnel. “We in the incumbent govt have fulfilled the long pending demand of the Karnakata police by implementing the Auradkar Committee Report. My heartiest congratulations to the state police personnel,” he tweeted.