Court slams bureaucrats for not working

The Delhi High Court Wednesday slammed bureaucrats for "not showing interest in work" and said they were making a fool of the people, politicians and courts.

A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul, expressing anguish over the working style of bureaucrats, said they just pass on files and don't come up with any decisions.

"All the bureaucrats, IAS, IPS... are just not interested in work. They don't face the music at all. Politicians face (it) every five years. You (bureaucrats) are just passing files. When will you see the light of the day? We are fed up," the judges said.

The bureaucrats were making a fool of the people, politicians and courts too, the bench said.

The stinging remark came after a central government official told the court that new forensic labs were still not ready and 14,000 additional police officers had not been recruited in Delhi despite the court's directions.

The home ministry was "sending files to police. Police sending back to ministry. It's a badminton game", the court added.

"Most cases end up in acquittal because of lack of investigation," the judges said. "Innocent people are being put in jail and criminals are roaming free."

The court directed the government to complete the work of setting up forensic labs in the city within two months.

It also asked the government and Delhi Police to take quick action on recruitment of additional police personnel.

The court has been monitoring safety issues related to women.

Voicing concern over the figures submitted by Delhi Police indicating a rise in cases of rape in the capital, it asked the government to seek the help of sociologists to analyse the data.

Of the 1,704 cases of rape registered in Delhi in the first 10 months of this year, 215 were instances of incest.

In 43 of these cases, it was the father who committed the crime, and in 27 cases it was the brother.

But the bench praised Delhi Police for setting up a special women's help desks in every police station and for running "one stop centres" for victims of sexual abuse.