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UP govt to set up UPSSF that won’t need warrants to arrest: All you need to know about the special security force

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The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday issued a notification for the formation of the Uttar Pradesh Special Security Force (UPSSF). The Uttar Pradesh government said that the special force will be constituted on the basis of orders of the Allahabad High Court, which had expressed its displeasure over the security at civil courts last December.

In a series of tweets, the UP government quoted Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi saying that "The state government has given orders for the constitution of a special security force. This is a dream project of the UP chief minister." "In all, there will be 9,919 personnel in the force," he added.

Awasthi said five battalions will be constituted in the first phase and it will be headed by an ADG-ranked officer. "Expenses incurred in the first phase will be around Rs 1,747 crore," Awasthi said.

What is UPSSF?

The UPSSF will be responsible for the security of important government buildings, offices and industrial establishments in the state. The force is being constituted on the lines of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and will be deployed at places like metro rail, airports, industrial institutions, courts, religious places, banks and other financial institutions.

The headquarters of the UPSSF will be in Lucknow and an ADG-level officer will head the force. Initially, five battalions of UPSSF will be formed. The UPSSF personnel can arrest any person without any prior permission of any magistrate and without any warrant. "Any member of the force can, without the prior permission of any magistrate and without any warrant, arrest any person," one of the UP government's tweet read, adding that "separate rules for this section would be framed".

The proposal for the constitution of a special force came on the directions of the Allahabad High Court after incidents of violence were reported in the premises of courts in December last year.

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