Powerless against the IGP

Tuesday, 28 August 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The National Police Commission has said it is powerless against the IGP. What are the functions of the National Police Commission? The IGP is the head of the Police Force and is responsible for its efficient functioning. Effective operations requires that the person in charge of an organisation must have the power to execute its decisions.

An outside body like the NPC should not intervene in the day-to-day operations which must be with the IGP for effective functionality. Any outside body must be advisory and the power should be with the Executive arm of the agency. In this case it is the IGP. If he has acted outside the law then the Police Commission could file action against him in a court of law.

Undue curtailment of the power of any Executive agency will impact adversely on its operations. This is particularly important in the case of the Police who have to protect the people from the lawless. Any outside body must realise that they do not have the operations experience which must prevail in the last resort in the fine art of decision-making provided it is within the law.

Let the carpenter stick to his craft and not be dictated to by pothe guras.

R.M.B. Senanayake