VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh is partially complying with three of the six Supreme Court directives on police reforms, totally complying with two, and has failed to comply with one, a study by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) said.
The Supreme Court had given six directives to be implemented by the States — constitute a State Security Commission (SSC), ensure that the DGP is appointed through a merit-based transparent process with a minimum tenure of two years, ensure police officers on operational duties are provided a minimum tenure of two years, separate investigation and law and order functions, set up Police Establishment Board and set up a Police Complaints Authority.
The CHRI, an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation headquartered in New Delhi, assessed the implementation of the reform directives by the States.
Andhra Pradesh partially implemented the first directive — constitution of SSC to ensure that the State government does not exercise unwarranted influence on the police.
The parameters for assessing the compliance were the constitution of the SSC, inclusion of the leader of Opposition, inclusion of an independent panel, binding to the recommendations of the SSC and placing the annual report before the Legislature.
AP complied with the first three of them while it did not comply with the parameters to have independent members in the SSC and submitting an annual report to the Legislature.
“Of the 28 States, Andhra Pradesh is the only one which partially complied with the directive, while the remaining 27 are non-compliant,’’ the CHRI said.
AP, apart from 16 other States, included independent members in the SSC, but did not appoint an independent selection panel for appointments.
The CHRI also found that AP and Karnataka are the only States which made the recommendations of the SSC binding.
With respect to the second directive — ensuring that the DGP is appointed through shortlisting by UPSC, ensuring two years minimum tenure and no premature removal (of the DGP) if States do not categorically lay down the grounds of removal as stated by the court — AP complied with the first two, but failed to follow the third. The overall compliance to the directive is partial.“
Total of 18 States, including AP, did not include the provision to consult the SSC in the decision to remove the DGP,’’ the CHRI noted.
AP complied with the third directive of ensuring minimum two years of tenure to officers on operational duties, including SPs and SHOs. AP along with 11 other States has failed to comply with the directive of separating investigation and law and order functions.
With respect to the constitution of Police Establishment Board, AP and four other States complied with it partially. AP fully complied with the sixth directive, setting up of a Police Complaints Authority.