The new system shall bring a big change of the kind that the police
commissioner, the post is ADG level officer, shall hold hold many important
powers under the IPC and the CrPC. The officers of commissioner level in new
system as police commissioner, Additional Police Commissioner, Dy Commissioner
of police and Assistant Commissioner of police -- all have been conferred the
legal power of magistrate under the 15 regulations. Gunda Act, the prison and
jail regulation, the fire service act, toxic act etc have been of exercising powers
to these officers. However the arms act and the issuance of arms license have
not been vested in the power of these officers.
The police
commissioner after holding these powers shall now be more powerful than not be
the associate officer of like the district magistrate in old system. There had
been a big tussle for the implementing the commissnery system between the IPS
and the IAS cadre. Being the most influential in government the IAS cadre got
this system implementing slipped long time. Unofficially many IPS and IAS
officers admit it.
Even the
former IPS officer are praising openly the decision of Yogi Government, on the
other hand many former IAS officers are raising question too. They think that
the system shall enhance the police power, but it may disbalance too the powers
at the district level. They say whatever the people convey, communicate or talk
through the district magistrate to the government may create a discontinuity.
The former chief secretary, Yogendra Narain, says that if there took any
failure under civil aspect at the police level, the DM always used to represent
on the spot as a delegate of government in the district. After the
implementation of new system the communication or talk shall not be as earlier
was. He says wherever this system in the districts has been implemented; it has
not brought any big changes yet there.
Another
former chief secretary, Alok Ranjan too, did not admit this new system a big
changer. He say that the present system is not better than the DM and the SSP
system, the old do have better 'Check and the Balance' which is not possible in
the commissioner system. Another former IAS officer say, “it is correct to this
extent that single IPS officer was controlling the law and order in Lucknow so
far now 14 IPS shall control it, but this shall give the advantages in the
ideal condition.if these 14 officers shall work earnestly with the
commissioner, then O.K. – but in the state it is in tradition that the every
officer has its own god father. If such condition kept on bickering, on every
matter 12 to 14 mind set up shall support their interests. It’s an experiment;
the forthcoming time shall prove clearly the entire situation.
However IPS
lobby is very much please with the decision of Yogi Government. Former DGP,
Arvind Jain, with no hesitation, says, “It’s a historical decision. The
decision could not be implemented under the pressure of IAS lobby. We have to
uphold that the time is to overcome from the police act 1861.” The former DGP
and now the BJP leader, Brijlal says that “the decision has broken the legend
that the commissioner system in Lucknow cannot be implemented.” The former DGP,
KL Gupta praising CM Yogi Adityanath says that, “I shall greet Chief Minister
Ji that he took a bold step. The matter is in pending since 1977. If the
system had been implemented in the 71 cities of the different states, why it should
not be in the UP?”
Mr Vikram
Singh, another former DGP of UP, says ahead, “it is not less than a revolution.
We pay our gratitude to CM Ji. Several commissions had recommended this
system. After the implementation it will assist public convenience amply.”
But the
former IAS officer, SP Singh, sees it in different way, “Propagandizing it by
IPS officers as a win of achievement in rights struggle is beyond from my understanding.
Where a SSP commanded whole district of Lucknow so far, the 14 IPS officers
shall be in half of the city in new system; namely, every two police stations
shall be in control of an IPS officer. It means that the importance of CO and
the SHO shall be abridged.we want to see it that the decision of CM shall
enhance the police efficiency or the insult of IAS cadre. We will review the
decision after 6 months.
Some of the
analysts are not agreed upon this change to be characterised as the IPS-IAS
rift. They feel that it should be seen in the way of reforms, but the political
parties are seeing it from the political angle. Samjwadi party said it a stunt
of diverting the public heed. Congress said it bogus and Mayawati gave advice
to the government to work by overcoming from the party base politics. She said
mere changing the system in a few cities cannot maintain law and order.
Exactly before this change police commissioner system was announced to
commence in Kanpur during 1976-77, but it could not implemented. IPS and PPS
association had sent its proposal many times to government. Eventually the
governor, Ram Nike, on September 27, 2018 recommended implementing this system
to the big cities Lucknow, Kanpur, and Ghaziabad above 20 lacs population like
pilot project, the government too was looked serious on this issue.
The
commissioner system shall provide easiest way to take action against the encroachers,
gangsters and the goons, and give many advantages like clamping of section
144, and curfew, but the fearsome people feel that the aggrieved person can
make their access to the DM. Because there were no fear of detaining or of
being tortured; but how shall the men will tell the agony by going to an IPS
officer when he cannot courage to go to police station? why the faith lacking
prevailed among the people, one of the basic cause also can be said that the
police make collusion with local influential persons and the cases of torture
and crime against them are not registered under the pressure of high hands. The
behavioral atmosphere in the police station and in the collector office is
fully different -- the first creates a fear paradigm in the aggrieved person;
the later encourages them to convey its pang to the civil officers.
They feel
that new system is nothing more than the fulfilling of sentimental old demand
of the police officials and if the character of police and its working system
were not overhaul with the implementing, there are no advantages of it.
The Yogi
Government is in power today on the issues of law and order, but NCRB status
reveals that the state government was failed to improve the situation on the
issue. The gross crimes count registered in the state in 2018 had been 5,85157
which is 12 per cent of the crimes in the country. The crime against women had
been at the top counting 59445 in the Uttar Pradesh. The economic crimes record
reveals 14.6% at the top in the Uttar Pradesh.The crimes against urban women in
UP the Lucknow is on the 4th place.
More than
3000 encounters on the name of law and order front in spite of being no solid
control is showing a big phase of turning into the weakness of Yogi Government.
The reason behind it is the working culture of police and its political
patronage. The Yogi government exactly after the taking power tried to change
the condition. In the starting days Yogi himself, the CM, looked at the inspection, cleansing in the police
station, giving the drinking water with the molasses to the aggrieved
person on several occasions, but the
corrupted police system swallowed his ethics as whole. The new police system
shall be able to show its effect or like the other programmes shall it be
output that will be proved later, yet there are the greetings going on by the
police officers to tell CM it a revolutionary step!
