3 months on, Police Complaints Authority lies defunct

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 7

The UT Police Complaints Authority (PCA) has been lying non-functional for the past three months after Justice (retd) MS Chauhan resigned from the post of the PCA Chairman.

Though the UT Administration had appointed Justice (retd) Darshan Singh as the chairman around one-and-a-half-month ago, he is yet to join.

Chauhan, a retired Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge, had joined as the chairman in April this year after a gap of around 21 months. The authority became headless after the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the appointment of Pradip Mehra, former UT Adviser, as the chairman of the authority in July 2015, terming the appointment against rules. The PCA was lying defunct till Chauhan joined as the new chairman.

However, Chauhan also resigned from the post on September 1. Later in October, the UT Administration appointed Singh as the new chairman, but he is yet to take over the charge.

The authority is struggling to keep the body functional since complaints are piling up.

Despite repeated attempts, Anurag Aggarwal, Home Secretary, UT, could not be contacted for comments.

The PCA was constituted in August 2010 with a mandate to inquire into complaints of misconducts such as custodial death, grievous hurt rape or attempt-to-commit rape or any case against police extortion by policemen, grievous hurt inflicted by a cop and serious abuse of authority.