Policing is based on the Police Act of 1861 and comes under the State list under the 7th Schedule of the Constitution. Under the colonial system, the overall in-charge of a district or region was the district collector, and the SP reported to him. This was called the dual system of police administration.
The sixth National Police Commission report, which was released in 1983, recommended the introduction of a police commissionerate system in cities with a population of 5 lakh and above, as well as in places having special conditions.
Under the commissionerate system, the commissioner does not report to the DM, but reports directly to the government.
In this system, the Commissioner of Police (CP) is the head of a unified police command structure, who is responsible for the force in the city, and is accountable to the state government.
The office also has magisterial powers, including those related to regulation, control, and licensing, to IPS officers of Inspector General of Police (IG) rank posted as commissioners.
The British brought the system first in Kolkata and followed it in Mumbai and Chennai presidencies.
Delhi turned into a commissionerate during the Morarji Desai regime.
In 1978, an initiative to introduce the system in UP, beginning with Kanpur, never materialised. Now, it will be implemented in Lucknow and Noida.
