The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Centre on AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha’s plea against the Lieutenant-Governor’s decision to form a police complaints authority (PCA), which aims to look into allegations of serious misconduct against erring policemen in the Capital.
No consultation
A Bench of Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice A.K. Chawla issued notices to the Centre and the Delhi government seeking their stand on the plea, which has contended that the L-G constituted the PCA without consulting the city government.
Referring to the recent Supreme Court judgment on administrative powers of the L-G and the elected government of Delhi, the petitioner said the verdict had stated that the L-G was bound by the ‘aid and advice’ of the Council of Ministers.
Mr. Jha, the MLA from Burari constituency here, has contended that the L-G took the decision to constitute the PCA on his own without consulting the Council of Ministers.
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He has sought quashing of the Home Department’s advertisement calling for applications for the post of members of the PCA and the subsequent January 29, 2018, notification constituting the authority.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on October 12.
The notification on setting up the PCA stated that it shall inquire into allegations of serious misconduct against police personnel, either on its own or on a complaint received from a victim, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the L-G, the Chief Secretary or the Principal Secretary (Home) of the Delhi government.
3-member panel
The PCA of the National Capital Territory of Delhi will be headed by a chairperson and will have three members, one of whom will be a woman. While the chairperson will be a retired High Court judge, the other members have to be “persons of repute and stature from civil society; a retired civil servant of minimum scale of Secretary to the government of Delhi with experience in public administration; and a retired police officer of minimum scale of Joint Commissioner/Inspector General of Police or corresponding rank”, the notification had said.
