The Centre is playing "snakes and ladders" on the issue of increasing the number of police personnel in Delhi even though the metropolis is "clearly not safe", the Delhi High Court said today taking note of the rape of an 11-month-old girl recently.
The court also expressed displeasure at the central government not arriving at a decision on whether to sanction around 14,000 more police personnel for the city. The issue has been pending before the finance ministry since July 2015 despite the home ministry clearing it.
The court said that at some point the consultative process has to end, and asked Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain whether the ministers concerned could be requested to devise a mechanism to prevent the issue from remaining stuck in a "bureaucratic quagmire".
It was also of the "firm opinion" that a proper solution needs to be found to resolve such issues quickly, so that the government can move on for recruitment of personnel.
The bench asked the ASG to inform it on 16 November as to whether the ministers of the two ministries need to be involved in expediting the process.
The court has been from time to time issuing directions to the police, Delhi government and Centre on the issues of augmenting the police force, bettering forensic labs and expediting testing of samples besides ensuring compensation to victims of sexual offences.
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