The Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to give ‘risk/hard area allowance’ to Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel who are posted in Maoist-affected Damanjodi in Odisha to provide security to National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO).
The High Court ruling came after a serving Deputy Commandant of CISF, Satyendra Kumar Jha, challenged the decision of the Centre to reject risk/hardship based allowance to CISF personnel posted at the Public Sector Undertaking.
CISF circulars
Mr. Jha, in his plea, contended that he was not granted ‘risk/hard area allowance’ after he was posted to the CISF unit at NALCO, Damanjodi from April 2016.
He argued that a 2011 CISF circular identified Damanjodi as a Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected area. Another 2015 CISF circular also declared CISF unit at NALCO, Damanjodi in Koraput district as a ‘hard area unit’.
Mr. Jha pointed out that as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the CISF unit, NALCO, it is required to conduct counter-Maoist operations.
He said that the base of the CISF unit is at Damanjodi whereas the mines area is 20 km away. The road connecting the two is undulated and is highly susceptible to attack or ambush by the Maoists.
Maoist attacks
Highlighting several incidents of Maoist attacks, Mr. Jha said in 2009 the CISF personnel valiantly foiled the Maoist attack to loot explosives at the mines of NALCO.
Unfortunately, 10 CISF personnel were killed, four of whom were posthumously awarded the President’s Police Medal and the remaining six were awarded Police Medals.
In terms of the statistics of the Maoist violence in Odisha, Mr. Jha pointed out that Koraput district was amongst the most severely affected on account of Left Wing Extremism (LWE).
While the Centre defended it decision to refuse hardship-based allowance to the CISF unit at NALCO since it was a ‘static location’, a Bench of Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Sanjeev Narula opined otherwise saying it was a field posting.
The Bench said Mr. Jha’s posting with the CISF unit at NALCO would stand covered by the Home Ministry’s April 2009 circular which provides for risk or hardship-based allowance to combatised Central Paramilitary Forces personnel up to the rank of Commandant.
It additionally said that the MHA should on its own grant the above relief to all those similarly placed personnel of the CISF unit at NALCO without their having to file separate petitions.
