Indicating that it may have to refer to the Supreme Court about the “failure” of the State government in ensuring the effective functioning of police complaints authorities (PCAs), the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday gave time till March 24 as a last chance to the State to demonstrate action that would win the court’s confidence.
Justice A.N. Venugopala Gowda made these observations orally during the hearing of a petition through which the court has been monitoring functioning of the PCAs.
Also, the court said that the State Police Complaints Authority (SPCA), which is headed by a retired judge of the High Court, had not discharged its statutory obligations effectively, while pointing out that the SPCA failed to monitor the functioning of the district police complaints authorities.
Pointing out that the State government, which is not showing its “will” to effectively enforce law, through which the PCAs were set up as per the apex court’s directions, Mr. Justice Gowda said he would not hesitate to refer the matter to the Supreme Court, which is also monitoring establishment of the PCAs in various States.
Noticing that the State had told the apex court that the High Court was monitoring the functioning of the PCAs, the court told Additional Advocate-General A.G. Shivanna that it was not at all satisfied with the State’s actions so far in making PCAs functional.
The government did not take any step on its own to make the PCAs functional and the steps initiated recently to activate them were based on the High Court’s direction, the court observed while adjourning further hearing till March 24.
