5O police stations to have paralegal volunteers soon

NEWDELHI:THE Delhi government has finally prepared a cabinet note for the appointment of paralegal volunteers at 50 ‘sensitive’ police stations in the capital.

The volunteers were needed to deal with complaints relating to missing children and other offences against minors. An order passed by the Supreme Court in 2013 had asked all states and union territories to appoint such volunteers at all police stations.

The Delhi government had in a status report filed last month informed the Delhi High Court that the law department had prepared a cabinet note for the “empanelment and deployment of paralegal volunteers at police stations”. “PLVS will be deputed at child-friendly rooms at 50 sensitive police stations, initially on a pilot basis for a period of six months,” it stated.

According to an official, “Work is underway on implementation of the scheme. It will be executed soon.”

The HC had recently sought a report from the Delhi government regarding the appointment of PLVS at all the 185 police stations. The Delhi Police had identified 50 police stations in areas where such volunteers needed to be deployed in the first phase.

In 2009, the National Legal Services Authority brought out the Para-legal Volunteers Scheme taimed at imparting basic legal training to volunteers to ensure legal aid reaches all sections. PLVS are to act as intermediaries between common people and legal services institutions.