FCC Rules KP Police Administrative Staff Not Entitled to Risk Allowance
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court on Wednesday ruled that the administrative staff of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police are not entitled to risk allowance, drawing a clear line between uniformed officers on operational duty and ministerial employees behind desks.
A two-member bench headed by Justice Aamer Farooq, with Justice Syed Arshad Hussain Shah, set aside an April 10, 2025 order of the Peshawar High Court’s Mingora Bench (Dar-ul-Qaza), Swat, which had extended the allowance to the force’s administrative and ministerial staff.
The KP police risk allowance FCC verdict
The judgement, authored by Justice Farooq, held that there is a clear distinction between uniformed police personnel performing active operational duties involving risks and hazards, and administrative or ministerial staff working in the same department under the KP Police Act, 2017 and the KP Police Department Ministerial Service Rules, 1974.
The employees had argued that denying them the allowance while others in the department received it amounted to discriminatory treatment violating Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law. The police department had refused the grant, the employees challenged that refusal before the PHC, and the high court sided with them.
The FCC disagreed. It observed that ministerial staff have their own service rules governing recruitment, eligibility and conditions of service, and that nowhere do those rules expect a ministerial appointee to perform active police service. The court called it a settled constitutional principle that the guarantee of equality does not mean everyone must be treated alike regardless of the nature of their duties, responsibilities and classifications. Article 25 bars discrimination, the bench said, but it does not prevent reasonable classification.
A busy day for the constitutional court
The ruling came on a day the FCC was already in the headlines: a separate bench headed by the chief justice rejected Bushra Bibi’s plea to suspend her sentence in the £190 million case. The court has been steadily defining the boundaries of its jurisdiction since its creation, including a recent order barring second review petitions.
The risk allowance question is likely to echo beyond KP. Police establishments in other provinces have similar two-track structures, and Wednesday’s reasoning gives departments a citable precedent when ministerial staff seek parity with uniformed colleagues. It adds to a string of recent court interventions in policing, from a commission questioning senior police officers to the PHC acquitting a police inspector.
Frequently asked questions
What did the FCC decide on KP police risk allowance?
The court ruled that administrative and ministerial staff of the KP police are not entitled to risk allowance, which is reserved for uniformed personnel performing active operational duties involving risk.
Why did the court reject the Article 25 equality argument?
The bench held that equality under Article 25 does not require identical treatment for people with different duties and service conditions, and that distinguishing uniformed officers from ministerial staff is a reasonable classification.
Which earlier order was set aside?
An April 10, 2025 order of the Peshawar High Court’s Mingora Bench (Dar-ul-Qaza), Swat, which had granted the ministerial staff the benefit.
Tags: FCC, KP police, risk allowance, Aamer Farooq, Peshawar High Court, Article 25
