Highly placed home ministry officials told IANS that there were now no known threats to former Jammu and Kashmir governor G.C. Saxena, former union minister and Jammu and Kashmir governor Jagmohan and Punjab Kesri editor Ashwani Kumar Minna.

Former bureaucrats who have held sensitive positions are allowed to keep their security cover for six months after retiring from office. But several have kept their security cover much longer.

'We are examining the cases of former home secretary V.K. Duggal and former national security adviser Brajesh Mishra,' said a senior home ministry official.

Last year while hearing public interest litigation on the security provided to VIPs, a division bench of the Delhi High Court headed by Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S. Muralildhar came down heavily on the government.

The judges said: 'We cannot appreciate this. You have made a mockery of the threat perception. The common man is dying in the streets of Delhi and old couples are being strangulated due to lack of security.'

Officials pointed out that the government spends over Rs.250 crore (Rs.2.5 billion) annually for the protection of VIPs.

VIP security is broken up into four levels -- Z plus for the top of the heap, followed by Z, Y and X categories.

According to ministry officials, Home Minister P. Chidambaram may have to take the tough call of pruning security. 'Considering that he moves around with minimal security, he has set the precedent,' said a senior official.

(Murali Krishnan can be contacted at m.krish@ians.in)