The Delhi Government has asked the Union Home Ministry to provide statutory status to the thana (police station) level committees headed by MLAs and district level committees to be headed by Members of Parliament for giving a greater say to the people's representatives vis-à-vis policing in Delhi.
During a short duration discussion in the House that Police Commissioner Y. S. Dadwal sat through, the Chief Minister said at the moment the Station House Officer calls the MLAs and other committee members at his own convenience. “People reach out to the MLA before they call the police,'' she said, adding that there was need to ensure that “the voice of the elected representatives carries more weight”.
Earlier, Assembly Speaker Yoganand Shastri had also directed that “the supremacy of MLAs should be there''.
The issue of these police station level committees was also raised by Anil Kumar of the Congress who demanded that the SHOs be directed to get the minutes of the committee meetings verified from the MLAs before sending them to the Police Commissioner. Mr. Kumar charged that often the minutes were changed by the SHOs at their own whims.
Shoaib Iqbal of the Lok Janshakti Party said the SHOs should also be told to give the MLAs proper notice for the meetings.
Demand
Sahab Singh Chauhan of the BJP and Rajesh Jain of the Congress also demanded that the MLAs should be the ones to constitute the thana level committees so that undesirable people do not get in.
