With the Supreme Court directing the Centre and the State Governments to create a National Police Commission and State Security Commissions to improve and monitor the functioning of the police system, and seeking a time-bound compliance scheme, time is ticking away for the Executive branch. The Supreme Court ‘directives’ of September 22, 2006 were contained in the judgement in the case of ‘Prakash Singh vs Union of India and Others’. In the public interest litigation (PIL) petition fi led in 1996, in which all the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations were among the respondents, Prakash Singh, former Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) and others, cited the tardy implementation of the eight-part report of the National Police Commission (NPC), submitted between 1979 and 1981, and wanted curative directions
from the court.
In doing so, a three-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Y. K. Sabharwal, and comprising Justices C. K. Thakker and P. K. Balasubramanyan, adapted, improved upon, and added to the recommendations of the NPC. More importantly, the court set a December 31, 2006 deadline for compliance and January 3, 2007 deadline for the Cabinet Secretary at the Centre and the State Chief Secretaries to fi le affi davits of compliance in this regard. The court has now extended this deadline to second week of January.
Given the seriousness with which the Apex Court has taken up the matter, and also the issues involved, the Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation organised a seminar on ‘Police Reforms’, where speakers and participants underscored the urgent need for the same, and the urgency with which the Centre and the State Governments had to view the Supreme Court’s directive.
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