Justice Ramalingeswar Rao of the Hyderabad High Court directed the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to constitute a State security commission and a police complaints authority within three months for redress of the grievances of the public in respect of police ‘actions.’ The judge passed these orders in a batch of writ petitions filed complaining of police excesses and about the higher officers not responding to the grievances of citizens. Justice Ramalingeswar Rao has been dealing with fresh cases being filed regarding the Home Department for the last three months.
The judge had the occasion to peruse the complaints and records of police departments of both States. Justice Rao referred to the judgment of the Supreme Court in Prakash Singh’s case. This judgment referred to recommendations of the National Police Commission in respect of police reforms. These include constitution of security commission, minimum tenure of DGP etc. Justice Rao said both AP and Telangana were bound to implement all these. The member secretary of the State legal services authority of the concerned states would be coopted as member of the proposed commission and the secretary of the district legal services authority as a member of the police complaints authority at the district level. The judge said the complaints of the petitioners shall be placed before the State Security Commission, to be constituted by the governments not later than three months.
