T.N. restricts provision of ‘guard of honour’ during official visits of VIPs in connection with State government functions

The Tamil Nadu government has decided to restrict the provision of the ‘guard of honour’ to VIPs attending State government functions. It has instructed District Collectors and senior police authorities to provide the ‘guard of honour’ only to seven personages -- the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Tamil Nadu Governor, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and the Union Home Minister.

The State government has decided that these seven personages “shall only be entitled to a guard of honour during their official visit to Tamil Nadu in connection with the State government functions”. The decision is in line with the instructions of the President’s Secretariat, the Vice-President’s Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office. The State government would also decide if and when there are “exceptional occasions”.

A Government Order was issued in this regard earlier this week. This decision is aimed at ensuring “unnecessary deployment of personnel” without compromising protocol and security. The composition, the strength and occasions for the ‘guard of honour’ would be as per the relevant ‘blue book’ and the Police Drill Manual issued by the Bureau of Police Research and Development under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in 2012.

In December last, the Director-General of Police had sought detailed instructions regarding the scale of guard of honour, place of stay guard, provision of pilot, among others, during visit of various Commissions such as the Finance Commission, Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, National Commission for Women, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, among others.

The guard of honour to be mounted would depend on the status of the personage as well as the occasion, as per the Police Drill Manual. The composition and strength of the honour in case of the President would be 150 personnel (rank and file). In case of the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Union Home Minister, it would be 100, 100, 100, 50 and 50 respectively.