Police Complaints Authority

Police Complaints Authority, Union Territory, Chandigarh has been constituted by notification dated 23 June, 2010 issued by the Chandigarh Administration.

Justice N K Agrawal (Retd.) is the Chairman and Sri Kanwaljit Singh, IPS (Retd.) and Mrs. Joyshri Lobo are the members of the Police Complaints Authority.

The Authority shall inquire into allegations of "serious misconduct" against police personnel, either suo moto or on a complaint recieved from any of the following:

• a victim or any person on his/her behalf;
• the National or the state Human Rights Commission;
• the police; or
• any other source

"Serious misconduct" shall mean any act or omission of a police officer that leads to or amounts to:

• death in police custody;
• grievous hurt, as defined in Section 320 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860;
• rape or attempt to commit rape;
• arrest or detention without due process of law;
• extortion;
• land/house grabbing; or
• any incident involving serious abuse of authority

The Authority may also inquire into any other case referred to it by the Administrator, Union Territory of Chandigarh or Central Government.

The Authority may require any person or authority to furnish on such points or matters as in the opinion of the Authority may be useful for or relevant to the subject matter if enquiry;

The Authority may, upon completion of inquiry, communicate its findings to the police Officer heading the police force in the Union Territory, Chandigarh with a direction to:

• register a First Information Report; and/or
• initiate departmental action based on such findings

The recommendation of the Police Complaints Authority shall ordinally be binding, unless for the reasons to be recorded in writing, the Administration decides to disagree with the findings of the Authority.

Any complaint may be submitted personally at the office of the Police Complaints Authority situated at the Deluxe Building (Ground Floor), UT Secretariat, Sector 9-D, Chandigarh. A complaint in writing may be dropped into the complaint box fixed on the wall of the office there. A complaint may also be sent by post.

Sittings of the Authority members are ordinarily held at 10 AM every Tuesday and Friday.