HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH AT JAMMU WP (C) No. 4049/2019 Mohan Singh and ors. …..Appellant(s)/Petitioner(s) Through: None. vs State of J&K& ors. .…. Respondent(s) Through: Ms. Monika Kohli, Sr. AAG Coram: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJNESH OSWAL, JUDGE ORDER 24.02.2025 1. The present petition has been filed by the petitioners seeking direction to the respondents not to harass and pressurise the petitioners to distribute their honorarium amongst the Village Defence Committee Members/Volunteers and further that the respondents not to disturb the present status of the petitioners as SPO and to frame a policy for regularization of petitioners as SPOs. 2. This Court while disposing of a bunch of writ petitions with lead case WP(C) No. 1178/2021 decided on 01.06.2022 in paragraphs 10, 11 and 12 has observed as under: 10. A perusal of the record reveals that as per scheme, the members of the Village Defence Group are required to work on voluntary basis and the Village Defence Group is to be headed by retired officer of Army/CPMF/State Police. The said officer would be issued with a higher category of weapon and would also be appointed and given powers of Special Police Officer (SPO). As per the scheme, SPOs are required to be paid honorarium. More so, it is stated by the respondents that they 87 2 WP(C) No. 4049/2019 have not pressurized the petitioners to share honorarium with the other members of Village Defence Committee. 11. In view of the stand of the respondents, nothing remains for adjudication by this Court, as such, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the respondents not to pressurize the petitioners who are working as SPOs of Village Defence Group to share the honorarium with other members of Village Defence Committee/Group. 12. So far as prayer of the petitioners for framing the policy for regularization of petitioners as SPOs in the Police Department of the UT is concerned, that is the prerogative of the respondents to frame such policy and no such directions can be issued. 3. In view of the above, the present petition is also disposed of in terms of aforesaid observations. (RAJNESH OSWAL) JUDGE Jammu: 24.02.2025 Rakesh Whether the order is speaking: Yes/No Whether the order is reportable: Yes/No Rakesh Kumar 2025.02.27 14:09 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document