The state cabinet of Uttarakhand has cleared a proposal to replace the “Revenue Police” system with the regular police.
In Uttrakhand, Regular police force jurisdiction does not extend to several hilly areas.
Currently, the revenue police jurisdiction covers over 50% of the state in terms of area, and about 25% of the population.
The Revenue Police System in Uttrakhand
The British government introduced the system of revenue police in Uttrakhand; the motive was to save money and resources by not deploying regular police, as the crime rate was low in the hilly areas.
Under the system, civil officials of the revenue department have the powers and functions of the regular police.
The revenue police of the area file an FIR investigate the case, arrest the accused and also file a charge sheet in the local court.
Heinous crimes like murder, rape, or crimes against Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), are transferred to the regular police.
The main criticism of the system is that the revenue officials are given the additional task of policing without any adequate training.
The prevention of crime, either by collecting intelligence or creating a fear of law and order, cannot be done by the revenue officials, as they are not trained to do these added responsibilities.
In 2018, the Uttarakhand High Court ordered the state government to abolish the revenue police system.
In other states, the core function of revenue officials is to maintain land, cultivation and revenue records of villages, and collect revenues on behalf of the government.
Revenue officials like patwari collect data on crop production, perform election-related duties and collect census and literacy data.
They are also given the duty of implementing government schemes and preparing birth, death, and caste certificates.
