LAVKUSH TIWARI Vs. STATE OF U. P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will decide the present writ petition and connected Writ-A No.5771 of 2023. Since both the petitions involve common questions of fact and law, the facts and the case of parties shall be noticed from Writ-A No.18956 of 2022, which shall be treated as the leading case.

(2.) The petitioners are Village Policemen, Chowkidars or Gram Prahari, variously called from time to time, but decidedly appointed to this office of some antiquity under the North- Western Provinces Village and Road Police Act, 1873 (Act No. XVI of 1873) (for short, 'the Act of 1873') and since repealed by the Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2017 (Act No.4 of 2018) (for short, 'the Amending Act of 2017'). The petitioners are essentially Village Policemen, tracng their origin to a time when the modern police network had yet to gain foothold in the wee days of the British Colonial Government. At that time also, the Act of 1873 contemplated the position of the 'Village Policemen' and the 'Road Policemen' as extended arms of the regular police establishment in the remote villages, nooks and corners of the State, then called the North-Western Provinces.

(3.) It appears that the Village Policemen served an important role in the day that this position was created and for a long time thereafter. But, with the march of time, particularly, post independence, big strides in the organization and establishment of the modern police system were made. To add to it, were the great technological advancements in the systems of communication, quick transport and surveillance. All these factors put together, it seems, have made the position of the Village Policemen or the Gram Prahari, as they are now called, more or less rudimentary. Nevertheless, the post has been retained and there are incumbents, who have some duties to perform under the law.