The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), in its second national level report titled “State Security Commissions (SSCs): A Study of Police Oversight in India,” has lamented that despite various monitoring and compliance efforts by the Supreme Court, the level of compliance of the Supreme Court directive over SSCs continues to be low.
Based on the information obtained by CHRI, although SSCs have been constituted on paper in 26 States and three Union Territories till date, none comply with the Court’s design. The Court had envisaged an independent body with significant autonomy and mandate to chart out policies for a more efficient police organisation, says the CHRI report.
The report has examined the SSCs, flaws in their composition, mandate, powers and functioning, and suggests recommendations that will be essential to revive the failing mechanisms.
It has pointed out that yet the balanced composition suggested by the Court has been shunned and the need for accountability to legislature and binding powers ignored.
Some States have substantially wreaked their Commission mandates. Though 26 States have established SSCs on paper, only 14 have seen Commissions moved from paper to actually functioning, according to the report.
Poor procedure of Commission meetings and failure to ensure implementation of polices on ground continue to hamper many states.
Among a number of suggestions made by the CHRI to make these SSCs actually effective, it has stated that every Security Commission must include Leader of Opposition and a member of the judiciary. It has also suggested that five independent members must be as recommended by Model Police Act, 2006.
