CM forms panel on new Police Act

CHIEF MINISTER Shivraj Singh Chouhan has constituted a Cabinet Committee to give final shape to the proposed new Police Act and to look into the intricacies of the Supreme Court directives in this regard. The committee has been asked to submit a report in this matter soon.

CHIEF MINISTER Shivraj Singh Chouhan has constituted a Cabinet Committee to give final shape to the proposed new Police Act and to look into the intricacies of the Supreme Court directives in this regard. The committee has been asked to submit a report in this matter soon.

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The committee includes Forest and Transport Minister Himmat Kothari, Housing and Environment Minister Jayant Malaiya, School Education and Legislative Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra and Minister of State for Home Nagendra Singh. The Principal Secretary of Home Department, Satya Prakash, would be the member-secretary of the committee.

The Government is gearing up to implement reforms in the State police administration albeit with certain deviations from recommendations of the Supreme Court. It plans to bring a new law for this and table it during the Budget Session.

The Supreme Court had, as part of its interim order on police reforms, recommended that states should see that senior officers like DGPs, IGs, DIGs and SPs continued in office for a fixed period and that they could be removed before the end of their term only if a committee constituted to decide on the matter agreed with such action.

The Supreme Court has given a final deadline of March 30, 2007, for compliance of its directives forcing the State Government to find ways to implement the police reforms with some relevant changes. The committee would be finding ways to fulfil this task.