Bring Delhi police under Delhi government: Delhi CM Kejriwal tells central govt 

-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL 

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Delhi Common-man government has asked the Central government to bring Delhi police under Delhi government and let the state government to deal with  law order situation in the capital better and  more aptly. Now Delhi police is under central government jurisdiction.

As long as central and Delhi government are ruled by one and same party, the Congress, the centre-state relations were smooth and the bilateral matters looked normal. But now Delhi state has Aam Aadmi Party as the ruling party and the new party won the stat by defaming the Congress which rules India, in the recent assembly poll.  So, the Delhi should be allowed to create state infrastructure, including police. 

For a long time the Delhi government is saying that Delhi Police should be brought under it. On Friday Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal repeated the long-standing demand when he met Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. He said they had also demanded suspension of the policemen who were allegedly negligent in the discharge of their duties with respect to three cases -- the gangrape of the Danish woman, alleged drug rackets in Malviya Nagar and the death of a woman in a dowry-related case in West Delhi. 

Observing that the crime rate in the national capital was "very high", Kejriwal demanded that Delhi Police be brought under Delhi government as Delhiites wanted answers from the force for every crime that took place in the city.

The AAP government also reiterated a long-standing demand of its predecessor to hand over the charge of the Delhi Police to the state government. At present, the state police are under the jurisdiction of the Central government and reports directly to the Delhi Lt. Governor. 

Tensions between the Centre and the Delhi government escalated on 17^th January as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met the Union home minister and threatened to launch an agitation unless the police officials involved in an ugly spat with his cabinet ministers were punished, an intervention that drew flak from several quarters for bordering on vigilantism. In a move that is expected to snowball into an ugly confrontation between the state and Delhi police, cabinet minister Manish Sisodia warned that the government and people of Delhi will not remain mute spectators if the police functioning did not improve, while Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi stood by his men and refused to take any action until an impartial inquiry is completed. 
 

The showdown between the Aam Aadmi Party Government and the Delhi Police reached the doorsteps of the Union Home Minister.

Delhi Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung ordered a high-level inquiry by a retired judge into the cases raised by the CM Kejriwal. Kejriwal said after his meeting with Shinde: "The aggrieved come to me when a crime takes place in Delhi, not Mr Shinde. So Delhi police should be under Delhi government. He (Shinde) said that he will look into it". 

“We have demanded that the Home Minister bring the Delhi Police under the control of the Delhi Government. We also suggested that if the Centre wants to keep control of policing in the New Delhi area, it can continue to keep control of the Delhi Police in the New Delhi Municipal Council area, while it can transfer the responsibility of law and order in the rest of Delhi to the Delhi Government,” PWD Minister Manish Sisodia said.

After meeting with the L-G, Mr. Sisodia said: “This government won’t make any excuses like the Delhi Police is not under us. They will have to do their duty. Police has to act. We will fix the police even if it doesn’t come under us”.

Observing that the crime rate in the national capital was "very high", Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today demanded that Delhi Police be brought under Delhi government as Delhiites wanted answers from the force for every crime that took place in the city. 

"People come to us demanding answers whenever a crime takes place. They do not look for the (Union) home minister. So, it is high time that Delhi Police was handed over to Delhi government," Kejriwal told reporters here following a meeting with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. He said that, if required, the security of the NDMC area and Lutyens' Zone may be controlled by the Centre, but stressed that the law and order duties for the rest of the city should be handed over to Delhi gover .. 

Kejriwal said the Home Minister had assured that he would examine the demands and get back to him within a few days.  Later, asked whether Delhi government was running away from its responsibilities, Sisodia countered that they were actually trying to be more responsible to the people. After Kejriwal's meeting, Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi met the Home Minister. Kejriwal reportedly gave a deadline till Monday to the Home Minister saying if their demands are not met, the Delhi Ministers will stage dharna in front of the Home Ministry. 

Observation

Delhi Police is under the administrative control of the Home Ministry. 

Delhiites are worried and confused now as the centre targets the Delhi state government. . What is the use of having an elected Government with a Lieutenant Governor when the Chief Minister is disabled from exercising his right to give directives to the law enforcing machinery? Obviously Delhi Police has its masters in the Central Government with the Delhi Government bereft of any authority.

A change in the system is the need of the hour for this country that has been on a downhill plunge in all sectors be it character morality, fiscal health and whatever else!

Central government run by the Congress led UPA is trying to show the AAP government in a bad light so as to claims better opportunities in the parliamentary poll.  

Central government is eager to call the Delhi AAP government irresponsible and incompetent but the new party and its government have to be appreciated for trying to change the age old ways of dealing with problems, be it of any kind in our society! The old ways have failed miserably to give the people what is due to them in terms of safety, rights, etc.! 

Unless the central government works with Delhi government, it would be difficult for Delhiites get maximum from the change in government and to breathe freely and live as legitimate citizens enjoying fruits of development.

If Central government tries to fail the Delhi state, perhaps, people of Delhi would never forgive the ruling party now.

Not o just Delhiites, but people of India watching the progress of Delhi government as well would be upset.