SC asks states about obstacles in police reforms

The Supreme Court Wednesday gave another opportunity to the states to apprise it about the legal hurdles they faced in implementing the police reforms it directed in 2006.

"State government are being given seven days to point out difficulties in the implementation of direction given by it in 2006. Article 309 or any other legislation will not be considered as grounds for non-implementation of police reforms," said an apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice V. Gopala Gowda.

While giving time to the state governments, the court said: "We have given direction for police reforms and now we must ensure that the directions are implemented."

Article 309 of the constitution prescribs the recruitment and conditions of service of people serving the union or a state, subject to the provisions of the constitution.

The court gave time to the state government taking note of the objection raised by counsel Shekhar Naphade to the plea by Prashant Bhushan seeking the setting up of the Police Complaint Authority (PCA) so that the public could raise their grievances about police functioning.

Bhushan sought the court's direction for forthwith setting up of said that PCA, contending that there was no law coming in its way.

Naphade said that proceedings before the PCA and the consequent orders from it would be in conflict with service rules governing their conduct.

The apex court in the last hearing of the matter July 16 had asked chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to appear before it to answer their inaction in implementing the police reforms.