Headlines
Delhi ACB has jurisdiction to arrest Delhi Police officials: HC
New Delhi, May 25
The Delhi High Court on
Monday, holding that city government's Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) has
"jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute" Delhi Police officials, also
dismissed the bail plea of a head constable arrested on corruption
charges by it.
Justice Vipin Sanghi denied bail to Anil Kumar,
who was head constable in Sonia Vihar's police station and arrested on
May 1 while allegedly extorting money from a scrap dealer in the area.
A
turf war had broken out between Delhi Police, and the state government
after Anil Kumar was arrested by ACB. While ACB booked him on corruption
charges, police hit back, registering an FIR of kidnapping in this
connection.
The high court said that ACB "has jurisdiction" over
Delhi Police officials and also questioned the 2014 notification of the
union home ministry which allows the ACB to only prosecute Delhi
government employees and not central government (Delhi Police comes
under the home ministry) employees.
"It appears to me, that the
union government could not have issued the notification dated July 23,
2014 thereby seeking to restrict the executive authority of the GNCTD
(Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi) acting through
its ACB to act on complaints under the PC Act only in respect of
officers and employees of the GNCTD," Justice Sanghi said.
"By an
executive fiat, the union government could not have exercised the
executive power in respect of a matter falling within the legislative
competence of the legislative assembly of the NCT, since the law made by
parliament, namely the GNCTD Act read with Article 239 AA put fetters
on the executive authority of the president," he said.
Commenting
on the latest controversy between Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and
Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung, where the central government has issued a
fresh notification on May 21 giving the latter all power of transfer and
postings, the court said "the further executive fiat issued by the
union government on May 21, 2015 is also suspect".