Govt: Fresh process on to get board of visitors for jails

New Delhi: Delhi's home minister has informed the high court that the file relating to the appointment of the board of visitors for city jails was pending with him for only five weeks, out of a total of five years since the matter was initiated at govt level.
In an affidavit, minister Kailash Gahlot stated that before the court takes up the matter next, he would make all efforts to ensure the notification for the appointment of the board of visitors was in place.A fresh process to appoint non-official members, including MLAs, doctors, psychiatrists and social workers, for the board has been started, he added.
Earlier this month, a bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan had taken exception to the delay in appointing the board, which is tasked with the inspection of jails. It had then asked Gahlot to explain why the file was not sent to LG before the Sept 11 court hearing.
"That it is submitted that the file was pending with the deponent for only five weeks out of the total period of five years after the nominations had been made by the then minister home on 05.09.2019," the affidavit stated, contending that the lack of details of non-official members nominated earlier in 2019 had hobbled the process.
The affidavit added that Gahlot could have approved the file within the first couple of days and sent it to LG for approval, yet the department would not have been able to issue the notification constituting the board of visitors in the absence of the relevant contact details of the non-official members. "Even if the notification would have been issued, it would have been of no consequence as the department would not have been able to inform the non-official members nominated in the absence of their contact details."
According to the affidavit, the file in question was received by Gahlot's office for the first time ever on July 29, 2024, and after examining it, he was unable to find out the details of the non-official members nominated by the then home minister.
Delhi Prison Rules, 2018 deals with the constitution of the board of visitors for the prisons, which has official members comprising govt servants and non-official members who are not govt servants. In the case of a women's prison, two women members of the legislative assembly and for a male prison, two members (either male or female) of the legislative assembly, to be nominated by the Speaker of the legislative assembly; one nominee of National Human Rights Commission; two social workers residing in the territory of Delhi, with one of them having a legal background and an interest in the administration of prisons and the welfare of prisoners but should not be in active practice – are some of the non-govt nominees to the board.