The Centre on Wednesday ruled out handing over the reins of Delhi Police to the state government, despite the ongoing offensive against the UPA Government over the handling of anti-rape protests.
“Successive governments have maintained that the responsibility for law and order in the capital city should remain with the central government. That is the practice in most capitals,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
The ex-home minister also said the existing arrangement of the Centre controlling Delhi Police is appropriate and some amendments were brought in during his tenure by involving Lt Governor a little more and consulting the Chief Minister more often. “But, if further changes are required, we can look into that. This is not the time to debate these matters,” he said.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde informed the Cabinet on Wednesday that his ministry had ordered an internal inquiry into Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s allegations that Delhi Police unnecessarily interfered while a sub- divisional magistrate was recording the statement of the 23-year-old gangrape victim. Sources said the inquiry would be complete by next week.
In March 2010, the home ministry had constituted a security commission for Union Territories under the chairmanship of the union home secretary and chief secretaries of UTs as members to evaluate the functioning of the police service and its operational efficiency.