AAP tells High Court: File on police watchdog pending with Lieutenant-Governor
The Delhi high court on Monday was informed by the AAP government 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.
The Delhi government informed a bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath that its council of ministers approved the proposal on October 6 and it is now pending in the lieutenant-governor’s office.
The Delhi government in its affidavit said, “It is submitted that the Governm-ent of National Capital Te-rritory 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 a Cabinet decision on October 6, 2015 and has been submitted to the L-G of Delhi for his approval. The same is at present under consideration of the L-G,” said the affidavit filed through advocate Gautam Narayan.
The matter is now fixed for further hearing on January 18.
The court was also told by the city government 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 L-G and the ministry of home affairs before its issuance.”
The reply was given 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 the Delhi government’s February 27, 2012 decision by which it designated the Public Grievance Commission here as a police complaints authority for the national capital territory.
