Bhopal, Indore to get police commissioners
Bhopal: The police commissionerate system will be implemented in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal and Indore cities, the state government on Thursday issued a notification in this regard.
Addressing a press conference at police headquarters here, the state's minister for Home affairs, Narrottam Mishra said that Bhopal and Indore cities would get a police commissioner of ADG (additional director general) or IG (inspector general) rank while two Deputy IG rank, eight Superintendent of Police (SP) rank officers along with other personnel would assist the police commissioners in both districts.
"The police commissionerate system has been implemented from today in both the districts. The commissioner will get the magisterial powers under sections 20, 58, 106,124, 129, 132, 144 and 144 (a) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC)" the Home Minister said.
"Ten additional SP rank officers, 33 Deputy SP rank officers and an SP (rural) will be posted in Bhopal district while in Indore, 12 Addl SPs, 30 DSPs, and one SP will be assigned," Mishra said.
Last month, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had stirred up a hornet's nest among the IPS and IAS officers by announcing the implementation of the Police Commissionerate system, a promise that has been delayed by over 11 years since his first announcement.
Under the new system, a commissioner does not have to report to the district magistrates. And, the judicial and executive powers from inquiries to granting license, permits and permissions, will be shifted to police officers from district magistrates.
Since police officers above a certain rank get magisterial powers under the CrPC in this system and the authority shifts from the magistrate to within the police hierarchy, some IAS officers were seeing it as an "encroachment into their territory" and a move to undermine cadres' superiority.
Mishra also said that 38 police stations of Bhopal district and 36 police stations of Indore district would be covered under the police commissionerate system.
