Chief Minister Shivraj Singh
Chouhan's proposal to create police commissionerates in Madhya Pradesh has
expectedly pitted the state's IAS and IPS cadre against one another as the move
would mean transfer of magisterial powers from the IAS and subordinate revenue
officers in the districts to police officers.
At a law and order meeting on
March 26, Chouhan proposed the new system, starting with Indore and Bhopal. He
reasoned that the civil magistracy was overburdened with revenue work. When
state chief secretary B.P. Singh suggested that the matter needed discussion,
Chouhan reportedly said he had already made up his mind. Seizing the
opportunity, senior police officials promptly drafted a proposal to notify
police commissionerates in the two cities.
Two days later, however, the
chief minister appeared to have had second thoughts. Asked at the India Today
State of the State Conclave in Bhopal on March 29 if he was implementing the
police commissionerate system, Chouhan was cautious: he would "take some
steps to strengthen the law and order situation," he said. The next day,
he held an hour-long meeting with the chief secretary where, it seems, Singh
was able to make Chouhan see that his decision could have an adverse impact on
the civil bureaucracy.
Meanwhile, even as the Madhya
Pradesh IAS Association convened an unofficial meeting to discuss the
ramifications of the proposed switchover to the new system, the president of
the state IPS Association, Special DG Sanjay Rana, publicly supported the move.
Sources say the squabble is
linked to a draft public safety regulation bill that outlines the legal
framework for maintaining records of tenants, hotel guests, car rentals,
installation of CCTV cameras in malls and safety issues in buildings. IAS
officers are apprehensive that the commissionerate system, coupled with the
proposed legislation, will dilute their powers.
However, some quarters question
whether the chief minister is really serious about creating police
commissionerates in Bhopal and Indore. For, rather than making this possible by
amending the Police Act, which would need approval in the legislative assembly
after a discussion, Chouhan asked the police headquarters to implement the
police commissionerates through an executive order. Such a move opens his
decision to greater scrutiny. For instance, one can move court and ask why
police commissionerates weren't being set up through an amendment in the Police
Act, as has been the case with all states, except West Bengal.
Others see it as a move to keep
the police and civil bureaucracy on tenterhooks in an assembly election year.
With Chouhan making a slew of announcements in the run-up to the elections, the
last thing he would want is the bureaucracy questioning his decisions and
delaying them. Not just that, Chouhan has made similar announcements twice
earlier, ahead of polls.
Credit: India Today (https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/states/story/20180416-police-commissionerates-in-madhya-pradesh-shivraj-singh-chouhan-ias-ips-1206248-2018-04-06)
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