Former Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao has fired another salvo at the State government, this time on the proposed amendments to the Police Act.
In a letter to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday, Mr. Krishna Rao stated that the proposed amendments should be in conformity with the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in its judgment in the Prakash Singh Vs Union of India case.
Mr. Krishna Rao stated that any legislation should cover all the aspects of police administration, and the State governments might not have the liberty to cherry-pick and legislate exclusively for the selection of the Director- General of Police (DGP), excluding the other recommendations of the National Police Commission.
Citing media reports that the government was contemplating amending the Police Act to facilitate the selection of the DGP without the involvement of the Central government and the Union Public Service Commission, Mr. Krishna Rao observed that the guidelines envisaged by the apex court might be operational, including the selection of the DGP, till a comprehensive Police Act was promulgated.
He requested the Chief Minister to examine the issue in the light of the Supreme Court judgment and go for a comprehensive Police Act.
Such an Act should be a trendsetter for other States. The very spirit of the judgment was to make the police accountable essentially and primarily to the law of the land and the people.
Any attempt to legislate on any one particular item, excluding the other important issues like separation of investigations from law and order functions, setting of State Security Commission and establishment of Police Complaint Authority, might not stand judicial scrutiny, he asserted.
