Increase Home Guards Duty Allowance To Rs 533: HC To Odisha Govt

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to increase the daily allowances of home guards to Rs 533 and complete the process of payment in three months.

The Odisha government has been asked to pay the hiked remuneration to the home guards with retrospective effect from January 2020.

Odisha has around 18,000 home guards, who are part of the police force but not regular employees.

In February, the HC directed the government to pay them remuneration equivalent to the minimum monthly pay of the personnel in the lowest rank of Odisha Police in accordance with the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.

The court had then referred to 2015 Supreme Court order, directing the state governments to pay home guards “the duty allowance at such rates, total of which 30 days (a month) comes to a minimum of the pay to which the police personnel of state are entitled.”

The government had then challenged the order to pay Rs 500 duty allowance a day retrospectively from January 2020.

The duty call allowance of home guards in the state increased from Rs 240 to Rs 300 a day in 2018.