Sonipat is latest commissionerate in NCR, to have 3 police divisions

Gurgaon: Sonipat has become the fourth Haryana district and the fifth in NCR to restructure its policing structure and introduce the commissionerate system.
In NCR, Gurgaon is the oldest commissionerate while Ghaziabad was the newest before Sonipat.
The Haryana government on Sunday appointed special task force (STF) IG Satheesh Balan, a 2004-batch IPS officer, as the first police commissioner of Sonipat. The district has been categorised into three police divisions and each will be headed by a DCP.
While the highway and adjacent police stations will come under the east zone, the old city and the adjoining stations are to be covered under the west zone.
The industrial area of Kharkhoda and Gohana will come under the Gohana zone, as per the notification issued by the Haryana government.
“As the city gets urbanised, the aspirations of the society grow and the satisfaction level also differs. The establishment of the commissionerate system was the demand of society that has been fulfilled,” Balan told TOI.
“For instance, during the farmers’ protest, Sonipat faced a law and order problem. And many such incidents paved the way for the establishment of the commissionerate.”
Haryana now has four commissionerates — Panchkula, Gurgaon, Faridabad as well as Sonipat that shares its borders with the national capital.
The commissionerate system gives magisterial powers to the police commissioner, thereby, allowing them to impose prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC and curfew which would have otherwise required the district magistrate or deputy commissioner's permission.
Not just that, the police commissioner also has the authority to slap the Goondas Act on criminals and conduct externment proceedings, thereby, prohibiting convicted persons from residing in the jurisdiction of the commissionerate for a maximum of two years.
While the commissionerate system has been established in Sonipat, the challenges faced by the police are several, including infrastructural and societal.
“It is challenging to be a CP, while more powers are given, they have to be utilised judiciously. The police force has to be trained on how to work under the commissionerate system. I have to build up the system from scratch so that it takes off perfectly,” the newly appointed commissioner said.
“The evolution of a system takes time. The police stations have to be modernised. Society has to be prepared for such a system. And above all, the character of the commissionerate has to be maintained,” he added.