 "Swati Maliwal, DCW")
The Delhi Commission for Women has issued a notice to the divisional commissioner of the Delhi government seeking action against those SDMs who have not been implementing rules to regulate the sale of acid.
The Supreme Court had given several directions to the Centre as well as state governments to regulate the sale of acid to prevent acid attacks in the country.
To regulate the sale of acid, the Delhi government had passed an order which empowered area Sub-Divisional Magistrate to impose penalty of up to Rs 50,000 for violations.
"However, it is extremely unfortunate that acid continues to be sold openly in the capital. In order to ascertain the status of implementation of the order in Delhi, notices were issued by the DCW in August to all District Magistrates seeking specific information regarding acid sale in their district," the panel said.
Information was sought regarding the number of inspections conducted by the SDMs, number of penalties imposed along with the amount collected, the panel said.
The panel had also sought details regarding usage of penalty amount collected as well as details of the year wise expenditure in this regard, it said.
It has been observed that regular inspections to regulate acid sale are not being conducted in districts, it said, adding that apart from New Delhi district where 554 inspections were conducted, most districts have not been conducting inspections.
The panel also claimed that hardly any penalties are being imposed in districts against unregulated sale of acid.
"It was observed that West district collected the maximum amount of penalties Rs 9.90 lakh in the past six years. This was followed by South District which collected Rs. 8.15 lakh and Central District which collected Rs. 7.85 lakh. North West district has imposed penalties of Rs 20,000 in the past six years," it noted
The DCW also claimed that penalty amount to the tune of Rs 36.5 lakh collected since 2017 is not being used for rehabilitation of acid attack survivors, as was mandated.
The Commission has pointed out to the Divisional Commissioner that acid continues to be sold openly in the capital, it said.
He has been asked to inform about the steps taken by his office to ensure proper implementation of the rules regarding regulation of acid sale in Delhi, the DCW said.
He has also been asked to inform the action taken against Shahdara and North District for not conducting a single inspection in the past six years, it added.
"Further, action has been demanded against five districts - East, North, New Delhi, North East and Shahdara Districts for not imposing even a single penalty on unregulated acid sale in since 2017.
"The commission has also sought a detailed report on the usage of the Rs 36.5 lakh amount collected since 2017 as penalties for rehabilitation of acid attack survivors," it said.
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