The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notice to the central government and the Delhi Police commissioner on a plea seeking withdrawal of police circulars relating to inhuman working conditions of station house officers (SHO) here.
A division bench of Chief Justice D. Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath sought a response from the home ministry and police commissioner by May 15.
The PIL said that as per the circulars, SHOs are not allowed to go home at all and "if they do have to go home for some reason, they can go to their residence once a week at night but only if their seniors permit it".
The petition, filed by advocate A.K. Biswas, sought better working conditions for police officers. It said: "Because of peculiar responsibilities of SHOs towards people and society at large in their areas, their health and working conditions are major concerns."
If their health or working conditions deteriorate then, they will not be able to deliver their best, added the plea.
"People of Delhi would suffer by way of degraded and inefficient policing" if the circulars are not withdrawn, said the PIL.