Bhopal, Indore get police commissionerate system

Bhopal, Dec 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) With the state government issuing notification to implement the Police Commissionerate system in two prominent cities, the state capital Bhopal and the economic and IT city Indore, these two cities have joined the list of 71 cities in the country that currently have the commissionerate system.

The order was issued on Thursday.

The much debated Commissionerate system, which with increasing population and fast increasing crimes has become a need of the hour, has been brought into effect with the home department of the state issuing the notification. However, the process of appointing officials, including the Commissioner of Police (CPs) for both cities are underway.

As per the notification, a total of 38 police stations in Bhopal and 36 police stations in Indore, all falling under the municipal areas of the cities, have been included under the police Commissionerate system. In both the cities the system will be headed by a Commissioner of Police (CP), who will be assisted by the Additional Commissioner of Police (ACPs) -- one for law and order and the second one will be looking after crime and the police headquarters.

As per the provision under the Police Commissionerate system, along with the CP, there would be two Additional Commissioners of Police (ACPs) and eight Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCPs). Bhopal will have 10 ADCPs of the rank of additional SP, while Indore will have 12 such additional deputy commissioners. Bhopal will have 33 assistant commissioners of police of the rank of deputy SP while Indore will have 30 such officers. The two cities will each have an SP (rural) post too, as per the notification of the state home minister.

Separate orders will be issued by the state home department to post the officers under the new system in both the cities within a day or two, the home minister said.

Police commissionerate system gives magisterial powers of various kinds to the senior police officers (IPS officers) and they can thus function independently of the district collectors/magistrates, who have the magisterial power in the normal policing system.

"Relevant Acts and sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), Police Act, Motor Vehicles Act, National Security Act, State Security Act (pertaining to externment from districts), Prisoners Act, Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, Government Secrets Act and others have been amended to give the additional powers to the police officials under the commissionerate system," said Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra.

The development came around three weeks after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made an announcement in this regard on November 21. The chief minister had then stated that the Police Commissionerate system in Bhopal and Indore is being implemented considering the tremendous increase in urban population and cities are expanding geographically and population-wise.

People privy with the development told IANS that there have been multiple attempts in the past three decades for implementation of the Police Commissionerate system in Bhopal, Indore and another big city in the state -- Jabalpur also, however, it could not be implemented due to various conflicts within the political and bureaucrat galleries. Now, with the system being implemented in Bhopal and Indore, Jabalpur may also see the same development sooner or later.

The attempts to introduce the Police Commissionerate system started during the tenure of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister (late) Arjun Singh in June 1981. There were two attempts by Digvijaya Singh during his tenure as the chief minister.

Chouhan himself had announced the decision to implement the Police Commissionerate system in the state Assembly in December 2012, but within a few days the government reverted to the deputy inspector general (DIG) system of policing replacing the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) that was in vogue in Bhopal and Indore earlier.

Source: IANS