Without a head since April, police body can’t pass orders

PANAJI: The state government is yet to appoint a new chairman for the State Police Complaints Authority (SPCA) even as 80 compaints are pending before the authority.

The tenure of the last SPCA chairman, Justice RMS Khandeparkar, came to an end on April 15. The three-member SPCA comprises a chairman and two other members. Sources said the two other members are hearing cases but are unable to pass orders without the chairman.
The SPCA was constituted on April 3, 2007, to hear cases of misconduct of the police personnel and recommend necessary action.In the last 12 years, the SPCA has received 506 complaints of which 426 have been disposed and 80 are pending.
In 2014, the state government issued a memorandum restricting SPCA from taking suo motu cognizance of misconduct by the police personnel. The move had drawn wide criticism from activists and public as there has been an increase in the number of cases being filed against the law enforcers in the last five years.
The SPCA has recommended disciplinary proceeding against some of them. It has even directed some of the uniformed men to perform social service, requiring them to educate members of 10 village panchayats of the existence, functioning, purpose and utility as well as the procedure followed by SPCA to dispose complaints in case the police failed to file a first information report (FIR).
Most of the complaints filed with the SPCA relate to the police refusing to register FIRS. Other complaints refer to police personnel assaulting the complainant when an FIR was asked to be registered.
In one such case, the complainant had stated he had been harassed by the police while registering an FIR. Other complaints include abuse of power and arrest without vaild reasons.