Gujarat HC demands police compliance in publishing rules, orders online

Ahmedabad, July 4 The Gujarat High Court has stressed upon the importance of transparency and accountability in the functioning of police department.

In the recent hearing, the police informed the court that they have listed all the rules and orders framed under Section 33 of the Gujarat Police (GP) Act on their website.

However, they requested more time to upload the actual text of the legislation. The court firmly stated that the police cannot evade their responsibility to publish the details on their website. The hearing took place on Monday.

This development comes in response to a contempt petition filed by Swati Goswami, an Ahmedabad resident, against the city Police Commissioner, Prem Vir Singh.

Goswami accused Singh of "wilful and deliberate disobedience" of a high court order issued in January. The court had ruled that the special police branch cannot claim exemption from disclosing rules and had directed the Ahmedabad Police Commissioner to publish all the relevant rules and orders on their website.

Furthermore, the court had directed the Ahmedabad city police to comply with the requirements of section 4 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, which mandates the publication of all rules, regulations, instructions, manuals, and records held by the police department.

While the police claimed that the texts of such regulations are available publicly elsewhere, the court emphasised the need for them to be easily accessible on the police website itself.

Justice Supehia, addressing the Assistant Government Pleader, stated that Rule 4 of the RTI Act does not permit collecting information from other sources when it should be readily available on the police website.

The court demanded an affidavit from the authorities clarifying when the text of the rules and acts will be made available on their website.

The matter has been posted for further hearing on July 6.

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