New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday asked the West Bengal Government to immediately relieve the three IPS officer who were called for central deputation, for joining them to the assigned posting at the earliest.
In a letter written to the West Bengal Chief Secretary, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has referred to the IPS cadre rules 1954 stating that the Centre prevails over the state Government in case of any dispute and also asked the concerned officers to report at earliest.
The three IPS officers, who were summoned on December 10 by the MHA to serve in central deputation are Bholanath Pandey, SP, Diamond Harbour, Praveen Tripathi, DIG, Presidency Range and Rajeev Mishra, ADG, South Bengal.
A source in the Ministry also said that Mr Bhola Nath Pandey has to join Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D) while DIG Praveen Kumar will be joining as DIG in Sashatra Seema Bal (SSB) and IG Rajiv Mishra will be joining as IG in Indo- Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) once they are relieved from their parent cadre.
The MHA is the cadre-controlling authority of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers.
The three IPS officers belong to the West Bengal cadre have been called to serve in central deputation in view of the lapses that allegedly led to an attack on BJP president JP Nadda’s convoy in West Bengal on December 10.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has reacted sharply over the latest communication of MHA on Thursday, saying that Centre’s order is a blatant misuse of emergency provision of IPS Cadre Rule 1954 and a deliberate attempt to encroach upon State’s jurisdiction and demoralize the serving officers in West Bengal.
Taking to twitter, she said, “This move, particularly before the elections is against the basic tenets of the federal structure. It’s unconstitutional and completely unacceptable! We wouldn’t allow this brazen attempt by the Centre to control the State machinery by proxy! West Bengal is not going to cow-down in front of expansionist and undemocratic forces”, she added.
