Home Ministry, Mamata Govt Stand-Off Over 3 IPS Officers Intensifies

New Delhi:  The Union Home Ministry has sent a fresh letter to the West Bengal government for immediate relieving of three IPS officers, who were involved in the security of BJP chief J P Nadda, on a central deputation stating that they have been given new assignments, officials said on Thursday.

In Kolkata, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday said that the West Bengal government will not release three Indian Police Service officers on deputation following the diktat of the Centre, and dared the Bharatiya Janata Party-led regime to impose President's Rule in the state.

The three IPS officers -- Rajeev Mishra (1996 batch), Praveen Tripathi (2004 batch) and Bolanath Pandey (2011 batch) -- were directed to report on Central deputation hours after the West Bengal government refused to send its chief secretary and police chief to Delhi to discuss the law and order situation in the state.

In a fresh order, the ministry cited rules of IPS while asking the state government to relieve the three officers.

The three were responsible for the security of Nadda during his December 9-10 visit to the politically volatile state when his convoy was attacked at Diamond Harbour.

The order also cited Rule 6(1) of the Indian Police Service (Cadre) Rules of 1954 and amended in 1985 which states "...provided that in case of any disagreement, the matter shall be decided by the Central Government and the State Government or State Governments concerned shall give effect to the decision of the Central Government."

The Centre has already issued posting to Pandey to join in the Bureau of Police Research and Development, Tripathi as the DIG in the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Mishra as the IG in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

The copy of the letter has also been sent to the West Bengal director general of police (DGP).

The entire issue started after the Centre, taking a serious note of the attack on Nadda's convoy, summoned the state chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and police chief Virendra for December 14 to discuss the "deteriorating" law and order situation in the state.

The West Bengal government, however, turned down the request for the meeting after which an order for taking the three IPS officers on deputation was issued.  

On December 12, the West Bengal government had conveyed that it would not be able to spare the three IPS officers and also attempted to refer to a rule of IPS cadre whereby the state government's consent is taken before any all-India service officer is called to serve in central deputation.

The two top civil and police officers were called by the MHA after West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar sent a report on the attack on Nadda's convoy with stones and bricks at Diamond Harbour, the Lok Sabha constituency of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

Dhankhar had also alleged at a press conference in Kolkata that violators of law have the protection of the police and the administration in West Bengal and any resistance by the opposition is quelled.

The West Bengal government has not sent a report on the "serious security lapses" during Nadda's visit to the state, as sought by the MHA.

The chief minister had mockingly distorted Nadda's name at a recent rally in Kolkata and termed the attack on his convoy a "staged act".

The cars of several BJP leaders, including that of the party's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and West Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh, which were part of Nadda's convoy, were also damaged in the attack.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said, "Bengal has descended into an era of tyranny, anarchy and darkness under the Trinamool rule.... The manner in which political violence has been institutionalised and brought to the extreme in West Bengal under TMC rule is sad and worrying".

‘Unconstitutional and Unacceptable’

The Centre's order in this regard is "unconstitutional

and unacceptable", senior TMC leader and Rural Development

Minister Subrata Mukherjee told a press conference in Kolkata on Friday.

"We will not send them on deputation. At most, the Centre can impose Presidents Rule. We welcome that. If the Centre has the power to do that, let it go ahead," he said.

"We will not allow interference by the Centre", Mukherjee added.

The senior TMC leader alleged that the Centre is attempting to misuse certain provisions of the IPS Cadre Rule of 1954 and trying to destroy the federal structure of the country.

The central government is also attempting to demotivate the police force of the state, he claimed.