Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has approved the appointment of retired Delhi High Court judge Poonam A Bamba as the chairperson of the Police Complaints Authority, Raj Niwas officials said on Sunday.
The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) deals with complaints of serious misconduct against police personnel, either on a suo motu basis or those received from people on a sworn affidavit, the National Human Rights Commission, the lieutenant governor, the chief secretary, or the principal secretary (Home) of the Delhi government. “However, no anonymous and pseudonymous complaints are entertained,” the officials said.
They said serious misconduct shall mean any act of commission or omission of a police officer that leads to or amounts to death, grievous hurt, rape, or an attempt to rape in police custody.
The PCA can also deal with complaints related to arrest or detention without due process of law, extortion, land or house grabbing, or any other incident involving serious abuse of authority, they added. The name of Poonam A Bamba, who retired on August 31 this year, was forwarded for the position at the direction of the chief justice of the Delhi High Court, the officials said. She will take over as the PCA chairperson, replacing Justice P S Teji (retd), whose tenure ended on August 13.
The PCA was constituted on January 29, 2018, in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court and the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The LG is the appointing authority for the chairman and the members of the PCA.
The proposal for the appointment of the chairperson of the PCA was submitted by the chief secretary, and the LG was informed that a separate proposal for the appointment of members would be placed before him, the officials said.
