Chennai: Police personnel working as “orderlies” at IPS officers’ residences say they are being made to do household duties and are left without basic arrangements, including a proper place to sleep.
The issue persists even as the Madras High Court has previously directed that the orderly system should not continue. In court, the Tamil Nadu Police had stated that the practice had been completely abolished, but the court refused to accept the claim and described the system as a colonial-era form of servitude, calling for its total removal.
However, postings of police as orderlies at the homes of senior officials, including IAS and IPS officers, are said to be continuing.
According to police personnel, a residential complex named “Thysha” in Virugambakkam, Chennai, houses serving and retired IAS and IPS officers with their families. They alleged that at least five orderlies are attached to a single IPS officer’s home there, and that they are forced to sleep on the floor in car parking areas and under staircases due to the lack of accommodation.
