It's not just impounded vehicles that are crowding the malkhanas of the capital's police stations; over 8.02 lakh litres of illicit liquor is also stored there as case property, which poses a big challenge to Delhi Police as it tries to de-congest its police stations.
A policy paper prepared recently by the Delhi Police states that malkhanas are bursting at the seams with properties of pending criminal cases. These have stacked up for years, without a prescribed disposal method. The report was filed by the Delhi Police in Supreme Court, which raised concerns over vehicles parked outside the police stations clogging the city's roads.
As of July 31, 2018, a total of 53,043 vehicles, called Muds, were lying in malkhanas. Of these, 40,223 are case property and are lying there either because the case is pending in court or insurance companies have not bothered to collected them, despite the owner claiming the insurance amount.
Illicit liquor is another big problem, states the policy paper. As of August 31, 2018 a total of 8,02,370 litres of liquor is lying in the malkhanas in 1,84,639 bottles and 64,523 pouches.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Pinky Anand told a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta that the police is contemplating a three-pronged strategy to resolve this. It will initially attempt to release the seized vehicle to the rightful owner on superdari. If no rightful owner turns up within 15 days, the vehicle will be transferred to the District Central Malkhana. If the vehicle stays there beyond a month, police will issue a proclamation of the vehicles. Six months hence, an auction notice shall be issued.
As regards to the seized liquor, the Delhi Excise Act requires police to produce the case property to the Deputy Commissioner (Excise) who affixes a seal and collects a sample for lab testing. The DC (Excise) has the power to order destruction of case property. But since there is only one District Nazir for all of Delhi who carries out disposal of case property, case property often remains in police stations despite its disposal being ordered.
The judges suggested a strategy similar to disposal of seized contraband under Section 52A of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act for disposing liquor. Once the contraband samples are taken by court, the court can order disposal or destruction of the remaining contraband.