Punjab rejects ARC recommendations on police reforms

The SAD-led Punjab government today rejected recommendations on police reforms by Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC), terming it as an "encroachment" upon the states' powers.
"Such encroachments would not only harm policing in particular but would also harm national interest in general," Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said in a Chief Ministers' conference on ARC's 5th report 'Public order: justice for each...Peace for all' held here.
Instead of enacting a new law, massive funding was required to control crimes, he said seeking additional grants for modernising its police force and strengthening the state machinery.
"Our funding to control serious crime is virtually non- existent and whatever meagre funds are provided they are spread thinly for years," Badal said.

He suggested that police modernisation should be funded entirely from the union budget.
Badal, who is also holding the charge of state home department, said the Punjab government had already implemented most of the ARC recommendations under The Punjab Police Act.
The ARC recommendations of separation of crime investigation from other police functions, establishment of state police boards, welfare and grievance redressal mechanism for police personnel, police complaints authority and police training have been addressed in the Punjab Police Act, he said.