Four Calls, Four Wrong Desks: Routing by Authority, Not by Urgency
At 21:20 in the control room of a Delhi district, four matters arrive within twelve minutes and every caller wants an answer tonight. First, an officer of a Delhi Government department telephones: a government function at a stadium tomorrow needs four PCR vans stationed for six hours, 'as directed by the Minister's office'. Second, an MLA's personal assistant wants a barricade outside a market removed before 06:00 so traders can open. Third, an NGO reports that branches of a tree standing in a DDA park obstruct the microwave path between two police installations, and offers to have the tree cut tonight if the police 'give permission'. Fourth, a private news channel demands the CCTV footage of a road accident in which a senior government official's car was involved. The AWO on duty is a wireless hand, not a lawyer, but the entry he writes will be read by senior officers and possibly by an inquiry.
1. For each of the four matters, state who actually decides, what the control room may do tonight, and what it must not do.
Read the worked answer
(1) PCR vans for a government function. PCR deployment is an operational police decision. A department or a minister's office cannot direct it, and a telephone call commits nothing. The control room records the call, asks for a written request, and forwards it to the district DCP, who decides on availability and on the law-and-order priority of the event. Must not: promise vans, or record them as 'sanctioned'.
(2) Barricade removal. Also a policing decision, taken by the SHO/ACP on law-and-order grounds, not by the control room and not by an MLA. The control room logs the request with time and caller, informs the ACP, and leaves the barricade standing until an officer of the station orders otherwise. Must not: direct removal over the wireless, and must not leave the log silent about who asked.
(3) Tree over the microwave path. The police cannot authorise felling or pruning. The competent authority is the Tree Officer of the concerned local body/forest authority under Delhi's tree-preservation law, and written permission is required. Tonight the control room can write to that authority, and the technical wing can pursue alternatives - reroute the link, use a temporary mast, or raise antenna gain. Must not: give 'permission', verbally or otherwise, to cut a tree in a public park; an illegal felling in an operational hurry is exactly the sort of matter that reaches a court.
(4) CCTV footage for a news channel. Footage held for an investigation is not a public document and a private channel has no right of access. The request goes up in writing to the DCP level, is placed before the investigating officer, and the release, if any, follows department policy with attention to the privacy of the persons visible. Must not: release, copy or describe the footage on a telephone call.
Common thread: urgency is a property of the caller, not of the decision. The control room's job is to record, route and inform - not to decide outside its authority.
2. A junior asks why the control room cannot simply act on a direction from a minister's office, since Delhi has an elected government. Explain the position briefly and accurately.
Read the worked answer
Delhi's special status Delhi is the National Capital Territory, not a full state. Under Article 239AA the Legislative Assembly may legislate on State List subjects except public order, police and land, which remain outside its legislative competence. The Lieutenant Governor is the administrator of the Territory, and the Commissioner of Police heads the Delhi Police, which functions under the Union Home Ministry.
Consequence for the control room Because policing sits outside the elected government's field, the AWO's chain of command runs through the police hierarchy to the Commissioner and, on the administrative side, to the Lieutenant Governor - not to a minister or a department. The 2018 Constitution Bench judgment on the scope of the Lieutenant Governor's powers read down the proviso to Article 239AA(4) and required the LG to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers except in the specified exceptional situations; importantly, it did not transfer police, public order or land to the elected government.
How to say it without inflaming anyone Not 'you have no authority', but: 'Deployment of PCR vans is decided by the DCP; I am recording your request and putting it up to him now.' That is accurate, courteous and leaves a written trail. The junior should also understand the practical risk: an unauthorised commitment on a phone call becomes the department's commitment the moment it is acted upon, and the AWO who made it is the one who has to explain it.
3. Draft the substance of the log entries you would write for calls (1) and (4), and explain why the wording matters more than it looks.
Read the worked answer
Entry (1) - deployment request
- Time of call (24-hour), caller's name, designation and department, and the number he called from.
- Substance in reported speech: 'Requested four PCR vans for six hours at ___ stadium on ___ , stating it was directed by the Minister's office.'
- Action: 'No commitment made. Written request asked for. Matter referred to DCP ___ at 21:26 through ___.'
- Follow-up flag: who is to reply, by when.
Entry (4) - footage request
- Time, channel name, name and designation of the reporter, and the exact footage and case asked for.
- Action: 'No footage shown or released. Request to be made in writing. Referred to DCP ___ and to the IO of case FIR No. ___ .'
- Note that the accident case is under investigation and that no copy, still or description was supplied.
Why the wording matters Three separate audiences will read these lines. An inquiry will ask who authorised what: 'No commitment made' is a defence, whereas 'vans arranged' or a blank log is an accusation. A court or the Information Commission may see them: a precise description of what was refused, and on whose authority it was referred, is what shows the request was handled lawfully. And the next shift relies on them: 'referred to DCP' without a time or a name is not a handover, it is a rumour. Two rules cover almost everything - record what was asked, record what was done, and never record what you merely assume.