Centre firmed its grip on cops with orders, not laws Abhinav Garg TNN New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal is not the first chief minister of Delhi to demand the state’s control over its police. The Centre’s first move to take away much of the city’s influence over Delhi Police in 1996 drew noisy protests from the BJP government at the time. The Sheila Dikshit government was also vociferous in demanding control over the 85,000-strong force but meekly submitted to the Centre’s 2011 decision to deprive it of all remaining powers. TOI traces the history of this ‘takeover’ through a trail of documents accessed from the Delhi government. The papers show that until 2011, the lieutenant governor and the city government’s finance department had a say in police’s budgetary allocation. But in early 2011, the home ministry unilaterally attached police’s budget to its grants. It also blamed the state’s public works department (PWD) for dragging projects and ordered that a PSU like NBCC be awarded police-related construction work. The ministry took these decisions unilaterally through executive orders, without much discussion with the local government and the Centre. Early in 1996, the MHA had taken away Delhi Police’s budget from the city government and laid down modalities for its separate accounting. It reshuffled existing arrangements by making Delhi administration’s accountants—maintaining Delhi Police accounts—report to it. The state government responded with a note. Principal secretary (finance), P S Baidwan, pushed for keeping Delhi government’s stake in finalizing the police budget saying it is “essential to monitor the expenditure and also it will help in scrutinizing various proposals in their proper perspective”. He pointed out that Delhi Police was not created under powers conferred in the ‘union’ list of subjects, unlike CRPF or BSF, but owed its existence to a schedule in the ‘state’ list, and hence should not be controlled by MHA. The correct constitutional position, he said, would be “for MHA to provide funds to the LG to administer the reserved items within his delegated powers”. The note prompted then chief secretary P V Jaikrishnan to issue an office order in September 1996 forming a ‘standing finance committee’ with the police commissioner and the finance secretary as members for Delhi Police’s budget, maintaining the Delhi administration’s influence in police affairs. The matter was given a quiet burial with MHA acknowledging Jaikrishnan’s order. For the next 15 years, the tenuous arrangement held firm, with the LG and Delhi government both having a say in police proposals, expenditure, modernization plans, etc. However, in July 2011 the MHA brought police’s pay and accounts under its chief controller of accounts. Delhi’s finance department again protested and sought a review but MHA succeeded in gaining full control. In a meeting chaired by then joint secretary (UT) K K Pathak, the ministry conveyed to the state government its decision to take control of the police budget. By April 2012, the MHA ended Delhi government’s remaining influence. The state would no longer approve police modernization projects nor sanction money for them. Instead, MHA would be the sole arbiter for technical and administrative approvals. When contacted for comments on the issue, Delhi’s cabinet minister Manish Sisodia accused the Centre of systematically conspiring to take full control of Delhi Police in the past 2-3 years. “Despite being included in the state list, Delhi Police has been taken over by MHA. For this, an amendment in the Constitution of India is required but it has been effected by executive orders by joint secretary-level officers. The illegality was possible because there were Congress governments at the Centre and in Delhi. We demand a new Delhi Police Act to place police under the state government’s full control,” Sisodia told TOI.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 09:14:31 +0000