'Rs 9K per month nothing but exploitation': Supreme Court on Odisha home guards' salary

New Delhi: The Supreme Court said paying Rs 9,000 per month to home guards personnel is nothing but exploitation and asked the Odisha government to reconsider its decision.

A bench of Justices M.R. Shah and B.V. Nagarathna said home guards in Odisha are being paid Rs 300 per day, which culminates into Rs 9,000 per month.

"To pay Rs 9,000 p.m. is nothing but an exploitation. How a Home Guard personnel can survive and maintain his family members on payment of Rs 9,000 p.m. only when he is performing almost the same/similar duties which is performed by other police personnel," it said.

The bench said it is also not in dispute that many of the home guards are working for more than 15 years. "The other police personnel in the State are getting approximately Rs 21,700 plus DA (dearness allowance) as per the recommendations made by the Seventh Pay Commission (after 6 years of their contractual appointment)," it added.

Scheduling the matter for further hearing in July, the bench said: "Therefore, we direct the state government to reconsider its earlier decision of paying Rs 9,000 p.m. only to the home guards."

The top court made these observations while hearing an appeal against an order of the Orissa High Court division bench, directing the state government to pay payment at the rate of Rs 533 per day to the home guards from January, 2020, instead of November 10, 2016.