A petition filed by the 200-strong Agra Tourist Guide Welfare Association before the Delhi High Court on January 1, this year, describes their members’ condition as “on the verge of starvation on account of deprivation of the only source of livelihood”.

The guides, they alleged, have been left in the lurch with the Department of Tourism delaying the final results of the Tourist Guide Training Examination held almost six months ago. A person must have the mandatory tourist guide licences to operate as per the orders of the Department in 1984. The selection process for issuance of licences include a written test and a screening process.

Taking a “humane note”, Justice Gita Mittal has ordered the department to permit temporary licences to 37 members of the Association who had appeared in the 2007 examinations.

“The court order will act as a precedent for the rest of the guides without a licence,” said the Association counsel Anjana Gossain. “The government plans to have at least 3,000 licensed guides by 2010, but the actual requirement is 10,000,” she added.

“The fact that public interest is being severely impaired in as much as tourist guides with knowledge and eligibility are not available at national monuments and other sites of importance,” observed Justice Mittal in her judgment.

The government is going slow with the selection process for tourist guides. According to Gossain, proof is the fact that the Department had conducted examinations only four times — 1984, 1996, 2005 and 2007 — since license was made mandatory.

“The selection process for the December 2005 examination was completed only this year. With an additional 600 guides, the total force is presently 1,200,” said Gossain. “But these guides are a floating population as their license allows them to operate in eight states in the northern region. What we need is region-based guides to cut the shortage,” added the counsel.