Gram Police nationalisation: Implementation remains stalled for 48 years

The Local Government Division in 1976 issued a circular for the nationalisation of Gram Police in each district, but its implementation has remained hanging in the balance since then. 

The government again took the initiative in 2008 and issued a notification in 2011 but it still has not been put into effect.

In 2015, a notification was issued regarding the formation, training, discipline and conditions of service of the Gram (village) Police force. It was partially amended in 2017. 

According to rules,  Gram Police members get half of their salary from the deputy commissioners and the other half from union parishad chairmen, coordinated by upazila nirbahi officers. Apart from this, each member gets a travel allowance of Tk1,200 per month as attendance at the police station.

On 4 November 2018, the salary structure of Gram Police was increased from Tk3,000 to Tk6,500 for dafadars and Tk7,000 for mahaladars on the recommendation of the prime minister.

But dafadars and mahaladars are not getting their portions from the union parishad chairmen on a regular basis, village police members say.

"Village police members face financial difficulties due to the irregularities in our pay. While the government portion of our salary is regular, the union parishad's contribution remains inconsistent. Additionally, the police station attendance allowance is also not distributed regularly. These issues make it difficult to make ends meet," Dafadar Lutfa Begum of Dakshin Badaghat Union of Sunamganj's Biswambharpur upazila told TBS.

Lawyer Humayun Kabir Pallab told TBS, "On 2 June 2011, the government issued a notification that said the union parishads will have three government employees — secretary, dafadar and mahaladar. All of them will get pay and pension under the national pay scale. Since then, although the secretaries of the union parishads have been getting the benefits, dafadars and mahaladars are being deprived of benefits under the national salary scale."

Local Government Division Joint Secretary (union parishad) Mohammad Fazla Azim declined to make any comment when approached by TBS.

Currently, each union has a Gram Police force of 10 members comprising 9 mahaladars and one dafadar. There are 45, 870 Gram Police members working at 4, 578 unions.

According to the training handbook of the village police, apart from maintaining law and order, they have about 70 types of duties, including issuance of village court notices, land survey work, birth and death registration, sanitation activities, environmental protection, prevention of child marriage and dowry, prevention of abuse of women and children under 32 departments.

Photo: TBS

Government issued several notifications

A five-member committee of officials from the Ministry of Public Administration and Finance Division convened a meeting on 9 July 2008.

At the meeting, it was decided in principle to send a proposal to the Finance Division as the committee members found that demand for payment of the same scale as fourth-class employees to the village police is very humane and considerable.

In an urgent letter dated 5 August 2008 to the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, and Ministry of Finance, it was stated that the village police are governed by the Pakistan-era 1968 village police rules, and circulars issued from time to time.

According to official documents, the British government gave them legal recognition by enacting the Village Chowkidari Act 1870. Then in the context of the Basic Democracy Order 1959 during the Pakistan era, their names were changed to Dafadar and Mahaladar. Then their salary was Tk50, which was equivalent to that of a primary schoolteacher. 

After the Independence of Bangladesh, in the Local Government (Union Parishad) Ordinance, 1983, they were renamed as village police and their activities regarding village defence functions were defined.

Issue remains pending with Supreme Court for 3 years

In 2017, 355 Gram Police members, including dafadar Lal Miah of Kushura union of Dhamrai upazila of Dhaka, filed a writ with the higher court. After preliminary hearings, the High Court ruled on 3 December of that year. 

Based on the 2008 decision in the rule, it was asked why Gram Police members should not be included in class IV government employees. After the final hearing, the High Court gave its verdict in December 2019.

According to the judgment, the state was asked to provide salary and allowances to village police mahaladars in the 20th grade and dafadars in the 19th grade of the national pay scale from 2 June 2011. The state was asked to submit a report to the court in March 2020.

However, when the state filed an appeal against the judgment, on 30 December 2019, the Chamber Court of the Appellate Division suspended the High Court's judgement for eight weeks. At the same time, it directed the state to file leave to appeal. 

When the full copy of the verdict was published on the Supreme Court's website in July 2020, the state filed leave to appeal on 15 October. The chamber judge then fixed the case for hearing on 26 July 2021 by the Appellate Division Full Bench. Since then, the matter has remained unresolved for the past three years.

Sit-in programme

Meanwhile, since 29 April, a group of village police members began a sit-in programme in front of the National Press Club demanding job nationalisation. During a recent visit, TBS found that around 20 village police members from different parts of the country, including Patuakhali, Natore, Naogaon, Jhalkathi and Sunamganj, were holding the sit-in programme with plates seeking alms.

Dafadar Lal Mia said, "We will not get up from here without the kind announcement of the prime minister. We started begging here in official uniforms. We are government employees, but we are deprived of proper salaries."

He said it is not possible to run a family with Tk6 to 7 thousand as a monthly salary. 

"Our life has become miserable. We want freedom from this. The only request of the affected 46 thousand families of the country is that the court verdict should be implemented very quickly."