The Centre on Thursday posted three Indian Police Service (IPS) officers out of Bengal despite the state’s objection to the transfer, triggering yet another round of conflict between the Centre and the Mamata Banerjee government.
The Trinamool Congress, however, said that the state government would not abide by the Centre's order. "The state government will not accept the deputation order. We are not going to send our officers anywhere else," said senior minister Subrata Mukherjee in the afternoon.
Another senior TMC leader hinted that the issue might be dragged to the court. While the Centre has power over the state according to the civil servants' service rules, the state argues that it is not a matter of service rule but of the Constitution, which places law and order under the state's jurisdiction.
The Centre had earlier sought the state’s no-objection for taking additional director general of police (south Bengal) Rajeev Mishra, deputy inspector general (Presidency range) Praveen Tripathi and Diamond Harbour superintendent of police Bholanath Pandey in the central deputation.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) had held these IPS officers responsible for the lack of security in BJP national secretary J.P. Nadda’s convoy, which came under attack from alleged TMC supporters at Diamond Harbour, significantly a parliamentary constituency represented by Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and heir apparent Abhishek Banerjee, on December 10.
Cars carrying several high-profile BJP leaders came under attack with bricks and bottles thrown at them.
Following this, the ministry of home affairs asked Mishra, Tripathi and Pande to report to New Delhi, but the state had objected to the order and refused to release them. Chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay wrote to union home secretary Ajay Bhalla saying that the state said it was conducting a thorough probe on the incident of the alleged attack.
However, on Thursday, Bhalla wrote yet another letter to the state, giving new postings to the three IPS officers and asking them to join immediately.
According to an officer at the state secretariat at Nabanna, Mishra has been transferred to India-Tibet Border Police (ITBP), Tripathi to Shashatra Seema Ball (SSB) and Pandey to Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD). All the departments are under the union government.
Technically, the Centre can overrule the state’s objection with regard to the posting of an IPS or Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.
In 2019, the Centre had locked horns over Bengal IPS and Kolkata’s former police commissioner Rajeev Kumar. After the CBI attempted to raid Kumar’s official residence in a sudden move, Mamata Banerjee sat on a dharna at the heart of Kolkata protesting the Centre’s attitude.
On Thursday a fuming Mamata Banerjee described the Centre’s move as “a colourable exercise of power and blatant misuse of emergency provision of IPS Cadre Rule 1954.”
“This act is nothing but a deliberate attempt to encroach upon State’s jurisdiction & demoralize the serving officers in WB. This move, particularly before the elections is against the basic tenets of the federal structure. It's unconstitutional & completely unacceptable!” she tweeted.
“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 & undemocratic forces,” she wrote in another tweet.
Political observers saw this move as the Centre’s message to all bureaucrats, warning them against colluding with the state government and the ruling party.
“Now, government officers will think twice before serving the TMC’s interests,” said a senior leader of West Bengal BJP who did not want to be named.
The BJP, which aims to topple the Mamata Banerjee government, has repeatedly alleged “complete politicisation of the administration” under Mamata Banerjee rule, a charge repeatedly echoed by governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.
