Delhi LG appoints retired HC judge Poonam A Bamba Police Complaints Authority chairperson

New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has approved the appointment of retired Delhi High Court judge Poonam A Bamba as the chairperson of the Police Complaints Authority, Raj Niwas officials said on Sunday.

The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) deals with complaints of serious misconduct against police personnel, either on a suo motu basis or those received from people on a sworn affidavit, the National Human Rights Commission, the lieutenant governor, the chief secretary or the principal secretary (Home) of the Delhi government.

"However, no anonymous and pseudonymous complaints are entertained," the officials said.

They said serious misconduct shall mean any act of commission or omission of a police officer that leads to or amounts to death, grievous hurt and rape or attempt to rape in police custody.

The PCA can also deal with complaints related to arrest or detention without the due process of law, extortion, land or house grabbing or any other incident involving serious abuse of authority, they added.

The name of Poonam A Bamba, who retired on August 31 this year, was forwarded for the position at the direction of the chief justice of the Delhi High Court, the officials said.

She will take over as the PCA chairperson, replacing Justice P S Teji (retd) whose tenure ended on August 13.

The PCA was constituted on January 29, 2018, in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court and the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The LG is the appointing authority for the chairman and the members of the PCA.

The proposal for the appointment of the chairperson of the PCA was submitted by the chief secretary and the LG was informed that a separate proposal for appointments of members will be placed before him, the officials said.

Saxena had earlier approved the constitution of a search committee for identifying the replacements of all existing members and had requested the chief justice to recommend the name of a retired high court judge for the position of PCA chairperson.

The PCA is headed by its chairperson and has three members, of which one has to be a woman and in case a woman is appointed as the chairperson, then it shall not be mandatory to have a woman member.

The term of the chairperson and the members of the authority is three years and the upper age limit for members is 65 years but the chairperson can continue beyond 65 years, if necessary to complete the tenure subject to the approval of the LG.