NEW DELHI: Ever since the Nirbhaya incident in December 2012, safety of women is a high-profile issue to score brownie points between political leaders in Delhi. In a major setback to the AAP government, Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has declared the Commission on Women’s Safety and Security—constituted by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in January and passed by the Assembly—“null and void”.
Jung wrote to Chief Secretary K K Sharma and Principal Secretary (Home) S N Sahai last week saying, “The Commission of Inquiry set up through a notification dated January 19, 2016, by the government of National Capital Territory of Delhi has no legal sanctity since it was constituted without the approval of the competent authority. Therefore, the notification is invalid and non est in the eyes of law.”
Jung had sought a response from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the issue after the AAP government issued a notification on January 19 this year. Jung said: “The Ministry has further observed that the concerns with regard to the safety of women in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi can be adequately addressed by Delhi Commission for Women, constituted under Delhi Commission for Women Act 1994.”
The state government had appointed retired district judge Dinesh Dayal as chairman of the commission, with Richa Pandey Mishra and Surbhi Singh as its members. Mishra is an AAP spokesperson and a fundraiser for the party, while Singh is a close aide of Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.
As per the notification, the commission to receive unheeded complaints of crime against women and was to suggest actions to the Delhi government on the basis of the recommendations made by the Justice Verma Committee.
Earlier, two commissions of inquiry to probe the CNG fitness scam and financial irregularities in the DDCA constituted by the AAP government were declared unconstitutional by the Lieutenant Governor as the AAP government had issued notification without his approval.
MHA had noted that it has been clarified that the Delhi government is not the “competent” authority to set up such inquiries.