Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Monday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for  failing to constitute the Board of Visitors for Delhi Prisons mandated by law and ordered to be constituted by Delhi High Court way back in Sept 2019.  The proposal is pending for the last five years.

The Lt Governor criticised the government for forwarding a half cooked proposal to this effect.“It is indeed disturbing that the constitution of a Board of Visitors which plays the crucial role of providing independent feedback to prison authorities about the standard of basic facilities to be maintained in the prison, including health, hygiene, security and other basic minimum facilities, is pending for five years now. The Board serves as a platform for hearing the grievances of the prisoners/convicts and enables authorities to undertake remedial measures in this regard,” Saxena said.

“I take strong exception of this approach and attitude which flies in the face of established norms of governance. A simple decision of this nature had to wait for 05 years and even then a half-baked proposal has been submitted without proper application of mind and following due process.  The file is returned accordingly with directions to rectify the shortcomings in the notification in terms of appointment of District and Sessions Judge as Chairman and sending a panel of names under section 45 D of GNCTD Act, 1991 and with specific direction that the Standing Counsel shall present this note to the Hon’ble High Court so as to bring the correct picture of where the fault lies as far as delay is concerned, on the next date of hearing i.e. 01.10.2024,” the  Lieutenant Governor said in a note to Atishi.

Saxena said, “What is more disturbing is the fact that the notification which has been put up now after approval of Minister (Home), GNCTD and Chief Minister, run contrary to the provisions of Rule 1643 of the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018 which envisages that the Board of Visitors shall be chaired by the District and Session Judge. It is not understood as to, under what authority this has been substituted by District Magistrate in the said notification”.