Govt readies comments on Delhi Police Act draft Bill

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told Newsline that the government was hard at work scrutinising the draft Bill. “The Chief Secretary is going through the Bill,paragraph by paragraph,and will soon have the state government’s recommendations ready to be sent to the Home Ministry,” Dikshit said.

She said the Delhi Assembly had two months ago resolved not to allow the Bill to be passed without the involvement of the government. Delhi government claims that the Bill reduces its licensing and magisterial powers.

Senior government officials said there were “fundamental” problems in a few sections of the Bill. “Through the Bill,police seek to absorb magisterial powers vested in sub-divisional magistrates under the Revenue department of the government,” an official said.

He said the Bill also gave police the licensing power — for restaurants,hotels and bars.

Dikshit said such a Bill would lead to confusion. “We cannot have a parallel authority in one city. There should be no confusion over functional powers for efficient governance,” Dikshit said.

The Bill also gives police the power to invoke The Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA). “In every other state,this power is with the state government. How can the police invoke such an Act?” Dikshit asked.

Parliamentary Secretary Mukesh Sharma had raised the issue in the Delhi Assembly,calling the draft Bill “draconian”

“The proposed Bill should not be passed without taking the Delhi government into confidence. Considering we are a democracy,the Bill should be sent to the Delhi Assembly for debate before any decision is taken,” Sharma said.