The Delhi High Court on Wednesday told the city police not to work under the “dictate of the Centre” while criticising the central government, calling its attitude disappointing.
While hearing a PIL seeking measures om women’s slammed safety, the HC slammed the central government for not clearing funds to create additional posts in the force.
The HC bench comprising Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said, “Delhi Police should not work under the dictate of Centre. Work independently. It is a very important issue. Delhi Police has to be more aggressive about it (women’s safety),” the Bench was quoted by the news agency IANS.
The court added, “When the ministry of home affairs cleared the proposal, how can the ministry of expenditure stop it? It should look for the money to make the proposal work.
“A big (shopping) mall costs much more than this… It (money) is not coming from officers sitting in expenditure department. We all are paying for it. Are we getting safety in return? Can women in Delhi move around here even after 7 p.m.?”
In its July 2013 order, the court had asked the central government to recruit an additional 14,000 personnel for Delhi Police at an estimated cost of Rs 450 crore.
But in December 2015, the Narendra Modi government informed the court that it had sanctioned 4,227 posts in the Delhi Police exclusively for separating criminal investigation from maintaining law and order.
However, the court was not pleased with the central government’s approach on considering advancement of technology rather than increasing the manpower.
It said, “Robots can’t run Delhi. They don’t come for free, they will cost you money. Here human life is free.”
Senior standing counsel for the state government, Rahul Mehra, told the Bench that “human resources has to go hand in hand with advance technology”.
The court expressed its displeasure with the central government that it had not cleared the funds for recruitment of additional policemen despite its repeated order since July 2013.
“(The) centre’s attitude has been quite disappointing, whether it is this government or earlier government,” it said.
