A police establishment board will also be set up to fix the minimum tenure as well as selection and transfer procedures for other officers.
NEW DELHI: Separation of the investigation and law-enforcement wings and a two-year tenure for directors-general of different security wings were among the Supreme Court’s directions on Friday to free police from political meddling.
On a petition by Prakash Singh, former DGP, Uttar Pradesh, a bench headed by Chief Justice YK Sabharwal ordered the Centre and the National Human Rights Commission to consider counsel Prashant Bhushan’s suggestion to hand over cases of terrorism, drug- trafficking, money laundering, and cross-border offences to the CBI.
Besides, the court ordered that a police complaints authority be set up to hear petitions against officers. A police establishment board will also be set up to fix the minimum tenure as well as selection and transfer procedures for other officers.
The court said its directions must be complied with by December 31, 2006, and a report filed by January 3, 2007. “A beginning has been made to bring accountability in the law-enforcing system,” Bhushan said.
Retired officers welcomed the orders. Mahesh Narayan Singh, former commissioner of police, Mumbai, said this will ensure that the right man is appointed to the top post, in turn boosting the morale of the force. “When a police chief has a fixed tenure, he can plan and properly execute his ideas,” he said. “It will improve professionalism.”
Arvind Inamdar, former DGP, Maharashtra, said the Court has “done a great service to the police. The politicians want to keep police officers under their thumb. The order is a big relief. Officers can now work without fear or favour.”
Singh, however, wondered if the orders would be implemented in letter and spirit, “because the political class is not in favour of this”. The judgment refers to an earlier commission set up by the Centre to review the Indian Police Act, 1861.
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