What Is Police Commissionerate System In UP – Free PDF Download

The news

• Uttar Pradesh government on January 13,2020 passed a proposal to introduce the police commissioner system in two major cities
• The proposals were passed by the State Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
• The police commissioner system would be implemented in Lucknow and Gautam Buddha Nagar(NOIDA).

• The system gives more responsibilities, including magisterial powers, to IPS officers
• As per the Police Act, the system is to be implemented in cities with more than 10 lakh population.
• Noida and Lucknow are trials .
• If successful , it will be implemented in other cities of UP too.

How is a district administered?

• Collector and Superintendent of Police
• At the district level, a ‘dual system’ of control exists, in which the Superintendent of Police (SP) has to work with the District Magistrate (DM) for supervising police administration.
• Under the colonial system, the overall in-charge of a district or region was the district collector.
• The SP reported to him.
• Policing is based on the Police Act of 1861.
• The powers of the executive magistrate, such as issuing orders for preventive arrests or imposition of Section 144 CrPC, were vested in the district collector.
• This was called the dual system of police administration.

What changes in a Commissionerate?

1. Under the Commissionerate system, the commissioner does not report to the DM
2. The Commissioner of Police (CP) is the head of a unified police command structure
3. The office also has magisterial powers, including those related to regulation, control, and licensing.

• IPS officers of Inspector General of Police (IG) rank and above are posted as commissioners.
• Under Section 20 of the CrPC, the Police Commissioner is delegated legal powers of an executive magistrate, while the Joint, Additional and Deputy Commissioners are accorded “special executive” powers of a magistrate under Section 21 of the CrPC.

In UTTAR PRADESH, govt has announced that

• Lucknow would have a

1. Police Commissioner (an ADG rank officer),
2. two Joint Commissioners (IG rank) and
3. nine SP rank officers
4. along with a woman SP rank officer especially posted for women security.

Gautam Buddha Nagar would have

1. Police Commissioner
2. two Additional Police Commissioners,
3. five SP-rank officers and
4. one woman SP for women security.

History of the system

• The British brought the system first in Kolkata .
• Later followed it in Mumbai and Chennai presidencies to.
• Delhi turned into a commissionerate in late 1970s.
• In 1978, an initiative to introduce the system in UP, beginning with Kanpur, never materialised.
• Today – 71 cities in 15 States

Benefits of a commissionerate system

1. This system is supposed to allow for faster decision-making to solve complex urban-centric issues.
2. The Commissioner of Police (CP) is the head of a unified police command structure, is responsible for the force in the city, and is accountable to the state government.
3. It helps fix responsibility with the Commissioner and eliminates blame game between civil administration and police when something goes wrong
4. No dual system  causing delays and lack responsibility

IAS vs IPS tussle

• Bureaucracy in India has always resisted commissionerate system
• It takes away powers from IAS and puts it in hands of IPS

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