Close on the heels of summoning of West Bengal chief secretary and DGP to Delhi to discuss alleged lapses in BJP president JP Nadda’s security, the Union home ministry has now asked for three IPS officers who were on duty to be transferred out of the state.
Bholanath Pandey (SP, Diamond Harbour), Rajeev Mishra (ADG, South Bengal) and Praveen Tripathi (DIG, Presidency Range) have been called to Delhi on central deputation.
“Three IPS officers who were responsible for arranging security during Nadda visit have been given central deputation by the MHA. The MHA has informed the state government,” a home ministry officer told News18.
This is the second instance where West Bengal cadre IPS officers are being forced out of the state by the central government. Earlier, Kolkata CP Rajiv Kumar was brought on central deputation after he sat on dharna with chief minister Mamata Banerjee in uniform. In May 2019, the Election Commission had ordered Rajiv Kumar to report to MHA on duty.
Even though IPS officers News18 spoke to frowned upon the trend of using central deputation as punishment for officials whose actions antagonise the Centre, they also pointed out that rules governing IPS deputation give central government’s decision precedence in such matters.
Rule 6(1) of the IPS cadre rules, 1954 says, “A cadre officer with the concurrence of the state government or the state governments concerned and the central government, be deputed for service under the central government or another state government or under a company or association or body of individuals whether incorporated or not…
Provided that in case of any disagreement the matter shall be decided by the central government and the state government concerned shall give effect to the decision of the central government.”
The Trinamool Congress has reacted sharply. MP Kalyan Banerjee in a letter to Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla has slammed the move. “All the three IPS officers were deployed on 10th December nearby at the place of occurrence. Your motive is very clear that by taking them you want to create pressure on the three said police officers. It is shameful and dangerous that all laws have been thrown out in the river by your action at the instance of Shri Amit Shah,” Banerjee said.
The episode has thrusted the Mamata Banerjee government and the Centre on warpath again with the home ministry also summoning two top state officials to the national capital on December 14 over the attack on Nadda’s convoy. A defiant state government said chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay and DGP Virendra will not go.
Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, locked in a seemingly interminable feud with the Mamata Banerjee government, meanwhile, accused the state administration of pandering to those in power and said he has sent a report to the Centre about the “extremely disturbing developments”.
Nadda’s convoy was allegedly attacked with stones and bricks while on its way to Diamond Harbour in Kolkata. Cars of several party leaders including that of BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh which were part of the convoy were damaged in the alleged attack.
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