Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: June 25, 2022 at 17:41 IST
CHENNAI: The State government requested the Madras High Court on Friday not to hear the case relating to the state police complaints committee because the Supreme Court has already seized the matter.
In accordance to the request made by Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram, the first Bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N Mala gave the liberty to the petitioners–Saravanan Dakshinamurthy and former IPS officer A G Mourya to approach the Supreme Court for remedy.
The Petitioners filed a case in the High Court, alleging that the state had formed the committee with the Home Secretary as its head in violation of an order from the Supreme Court that insisted that it be headed by a retired Judge. They also requested that the court declare the Tamil Nadu Police (Reforms) Act’s provisions, under which the present police complaints authority was established, to be illegal and unconstitutional.
According to them, the Supreme Court directed the states to introduce appropriate legislation for police reforms, including the formation of an independent complaints committee, in the Prakash Singh and Others case.
The Apex Court made it clear that such a panel shall be made up of independent panel members nominated by the High Court Chief Justice concerned and additional members selected from among retired government officials and members of civil society.
The petitioners stated that TN failed to do this and instead created a paper authority with no independent members and only members who may be appointed by the state at its discretion.
They argued that because the provisions under which the present panel was established deviate from the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution’s principle of the right to a fair trial, they should be struck down.