AAP govt to establish police complaint authority in Delhi

The AAP government Monday told the Delhi High Court that it has approved setting up of a separate police complaints authority.

New Delhi: The AAP government Monday told the Delhi High Court that it has approved setting up of a separate police complaints authority to look into complaints against erring policemen as directed by the Supreme Court in 2006.

A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath was told by the Delhi government that its council of ministers approved the proposal on October 6 and is pending in the Lt Governor's (LG) office.

"It is submitted that the government of national capital territory of Delhi is considering a proposal for constitution of separate police complaints authority.

"A resolution to constitute such an authority has been approved by the counsel of ministers vide cabinet decision ... on October 6, 2015 and has been submitted to the LG of Delhi for his approval. The same is at present under consideration of the LG," the Delhi government said in its affidavit, filed through advocate Gautam Narayan.

The court fixed the matter for further hearing on January 18.

The city government also told the court that "since 'police' is a reserved subject in terms of article 239AA read with Entry 2, List II of the seventh schedule to the Constitution of India, the resolution/ notification for constitution of the police complaints authority requires approval of the LG and the Ministry of Home Affairs, before its issuance".

The reply came on a PIL alleging that the Delhi government has failed to comply with the apex court's 2006 direction.

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, the NGO which filed the PIL, has sought quashing of Delhi government's February 27, 2012 decision by which it designated the Public Grievance Commission (PGC) here as a police complaint authority (PCA) for the national capital territory.

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