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THECITY
7WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,JANUARY21,2016
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEWDELHI,JANUARY20
AFTER A day-longhunger
strikeatJantarMantaragainsttheDelhigovernment, the citys mayors
metPresidentPranabMukherjeeWednesday and sought
hisinterventionin dealingwith thefinancial crisisgripping the
civicbodies.
Ledby stateBJP chief SatishUpadhyay, North Delhi mayor
RavinderGupta,EastDelhimayorHarshMalhotraand SouthDelhimayor
Subhash Arya met thePresidentand requestedhim todirect theDelhi
governmenttopaythearrearsoftheThirdDelhiFinance Commissionto
munici-
palcorporationsandimplementrecommendationsof the
FourthDelhiFinanceCommission.
We have informed thePresidentof theunconstitutionalbehaviour of
the AAP govern-ment. Therecommendationsof
the FourthFinance Commissionare in the spirit of the
74thAmendment tomake
thelocalbodiesfinanciallyindependentandautonomous.By
notimple-mentingthis,
thegovernmentisviolatingconstitutionalprovi-
sions,said Upadhyay.TheDelhiHighCourt,in June
2015,had criticised
thegovern-mentforsleepingovertheim-plementation of the
FourthFinanceCommissionreport andsettingup ofa fifthpanel.
Mayors tell President of fund crunch in civic bodies, seek
intervention
EXPRESSNEWS
SERVICE
NEWDELHI,JANUARY20
THECENTREdrewDelhiHighCourtire Wednesdayover
de-layinclearingproposalsforre-cruitmentof more policeper-sonnel in
the capital andinstallationof CCTVcameras.Thecourt observedthat
thepresentNDA governmentaswell asthe previousUPAonehad been
disappointingintheir attitude towardswomenssafety.
A bench of Justice BadarDurrez Ahmed and JusticeSanjeev Sachdeva
observed
thatthe central governmenthadnotclearedfundsfor re-cruitmentof
additionalpolice-mendespite itsorderssinceuly2013.
Thecommentsweremadeduringa hearing ontwoPILsinitiatedafter the
December16,2012,gangrapecase ontheissueof safety
andsecurityofwomeninthecity.Reiteratingitsorders,thebenchsaiditwasnotpleasedwith
thecentralgovernmentsapproach.
ThebenchalsoaskedtheDelhiPolice to aggressivelypursue
thematterand tellthe centralgovernmentthatitneededmorepersonnel.
Italso questioned why the fi-nanceministrywas notclear-ing the
proposals for addi-tional police posts eventhoughthe matter
hadbeenclearedby thehome ministry.
Delhi Police should notwork under the dictate ofCentre.
Workindependently.It is a very important issue.
DelhiPolicehastobemoreag-gressive about it, said
thebench.Whentheministryofhomeaffairsclearedthe
pro-posal,howcantheministryofexpenditurestopit?It shouldlook
forthemoney tomakethe proposalwork, observedthebench.
The finance ministry hadsaidthe proposalfor anaddi-tional 14,000
police postswouldcostoverRs 450croreper year. A big mall costsmuch
more... Money is notcomingfromofficerssittinginexpenditure
department.Weallarepayingforit.Areweget-ting safety in return?
Canwomenin Delhimovearound
hereevenafter 7 pm?askedthecourt.The observations were
madeafterperusing anaffi-davitfiledby thefinancemin-istry, which
stated that4,227additional posts for DelhiPolicehad
beensanctioned,outofwhich50per centwouldbecomeoperationalin
2016-17financialyear andthe remain-ingin theyearafter. Themin-istry
alsostatedit hadsug-gested the home ministryreviewthe
demandformorepersonnelasitwouldbemoreappropriate to use
advance-mentintechnologyratherthanincreasingthe manpower.
Amicus curiae, advocateMeera Bhatia, however,pointed out the
Centre hadnoteven agreedto financetheCCTVs.
Robots cant run Delhi.
Theydontcomefor
free,theywillcostyoumoney.Herehu-manlifeisfree,thebenchre-marked.
Govtdrawscourtire overdelay inclearingproposals forrecruitmentof
cops andinstallation of CCTVs
HC: Delhi Police
shouldnotwork
under dictate
ofCentre
