State files affidavit in High Court on police plaint authority

Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav on Wednesday submitted to the High Court that State government is planning to amend the Karnataka Police Act to bring the District Police Complaint Authorities (DPCAs) under the chairmanship of the deputy commissioner (DC) instead of the regional commissioner. 

 In an affidavit, the chief secretary has stated that the government has also proposed to change eligibility of member of ‘Retired Civil Servants’ from not below the rank of joint secretary to government to 'not below the rank of Grade-1 Tahasildar’.  The proposed amendment will be brought before the Legislature in the next session.

Jadhav, in the affidavit, has stated that the government has already decided to provide office space for the DPCAs in the DC office respective districts.  In case the office space is not available, action would be taken to identify alternative buildings to locate the DPCA there.  

Further, with regard to the relocation of the State Police Complaint Authority (SPCA), an alternative location has been identified at the multistoried buildings, which is easily accessible to the general public. The SPCA office is currently based at the Vikasa Soudha building. 

Justice A N Venugopala Gowda recorded the statement made in the affidavit, however, he expressed his displeasure saying that he was not completely satisfied with the steps taken by the government in creating the SPCA and the DPCAs. 

The bench further observed “It’s been close to 10 years now since the Supreme Court has taken the initiative to set up police complaint authority, but the state government is woken up now.”

The bench directed the government to comply with the orders made during the previous hearing to setup the SPCAs and DPCAs and submit an action taken report in the next hearing on April 28, 2016.