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Thereafter, with the concurrence of all Provincial Councils, certain civilian duties of the police that cannot be used for separatist activities should be delegated to the provinces. A similar hybrid solution should be considered for land powers as well.
Policing activities
Civilian police duties such as traffic management, domestic disputes, women and child abuse cases, minor robbery, minor assault complaints, crowd management, minor fraud cases, etc., are activities than can be delegated to a provincial police force.
Having or use of arms is not required to carry out these duties. Hence the provincial police stations will be similar to pre-1971 where few or no arms were used in policing activities. The federal police or armed forces should intervene in the cases of civil unrest with or without the request of the provincial police.
"Considering the activities of the Tamil Nadu Government and the separatist diaspora, delegating full police powers, especially to the Northern Provincial Council, could end up with rejuvenating separatism. Rather than hiding the reasons, the Government should bring these concerns into the open. Thereafter, with the concurrence of all Provincial Councils, certain civilian duties of the police that cannot be used for separatist activities should be delegated to the provinces. A similar hybrid solution should be considered for land powers as well"
Other cases such as armed robbery, terrorism related cases, narcotics, VIP security, etc., should be kept with the central police department that will have to establish sufficient presence in the provinces.
The responsibilities of the provincial police and the federal police should be clearly documented. A central unit comprising the senior officers of federal police and representatives of provincial police (departments of all provinces) should handle the disputes and their determinations should be the final.
Land powers
With regard to land powers, a part of the State land in a province could be leased to the provincial councils, to be used for development activities that benefit the public in general. The central government will remain the absolute owner of all State land.
An approved list could be introduced stating uses of leased land. By this list the use of leased owned provincial lands should limited to activities of general benefit such as agriculture, education, irrigation, utilities such as electricity and water, roads, etc.
The provincial council could be authorised to sublease the land for other development purposes for periods not exceeding 20 years but only with the concurrence of the absolute owner (the central government).
The central government should retain the right of re-acquisition (cancelling lease to the PC) of the lands that it suspects are being used for a detrimental activity such as terrorism or environmentally-harmful activities, etc.
Most importantly, the centre should retain the right to suspend the civilian police and land leases in the cases of another bout of separatism or such activity.
For public good
Naturally the people with a separatist mindset will continue to demand a pound of flesh stating that the ownership of the land should be completely vested in the PCs. Similarly they will demand that full police powers should be delegated.
The government should openly state the reasons for the inability of doing that considering separatism. At the same time the government should point out that if the demand for devolution is for public good, what is important is to have the authority to put the land to the public benefit rather than who has the absolute ownership.
(The writer can be contacted on [email protected].)
