PANAJI
After over a 15-year wait and empty assurances by successive governments to table the Bill for police modernization, now a new draft of the Goa Police Bill is being prepared, this time in line with the model bill prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
It will be Goa government’s third attempt to draft the long-awaited bill; which is expected to be tabled in the monsoon session of the Legislative Assembly.
“My Government has initiated the process of drafting the new Goa Police Bill, 2023 in line with the model bill prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs,” Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said while presenting the Goa Budget 2023-24 on the floor of the House, on Wednesday.
This along with the Model Draft Goa Fire and Emergency Services Bill, 2023 will be tabled in the upcoming session of the Assembly, the CM added during a subsequent press conference at Goa Assembly Complex. The Model Draft Bill for Fire Services, on the other hand, will be comprehensive and cater to all aspects pertaining to the department in the State.
The government has kept the details of the ensuing police bill under wraps.
The Goan, in its weekly Spotlight edition on March 26, reported that the police bill will get another date to be tabled in the Assembly. The bill had lapsed after the dissolution of the Assembly in 2012 while it has been pending for 15 years despite successive governments fully aware that its passage is crucial for ensuring transparency and accountability in the police force.
In 1995, the then government planned to pattern the bill on the Singapore model. After several hurdles within the State owing to some controversial provisions, the bill was sent to the President for assent. Former President APJ Abdul Kalam rejected the Bill. The State government thereafter re-drafted the Bill in 2008 and tabled it in the Legislative Assembly in 2009. It was immediately sent to the Select Committee, which was headed by the then Home Minister Ravi Naik.
Since then it has not seen the light of day. The clause about giving powers of police transfers and postings solely to the Police Establishment Board is reportedly being objected to by politicians across the party lines.
