The appointment of a full-time West Bengal director general of police is in limbo, despite reminder from UPSC and Supreme Court’s pressing note to the West Bengal government to comply with the guidelines fixed by the apex court in its landmark judgment in 2006.
The judgment makes it mandatory for the states to send names of all officers who completed 30 years of service irrespective of whether they have been promoted to the rank of DGP or not, to the UPSC-headed board.
The UPSC is supposed to send three probable names, of which the states would select one as the head of police force. Till date, UPSC has not sent any list to the West Bengal government, and the state government, too, is in no hurry as the list may not have the ruling party’s favourite.
THE WEEK had earlier reported the violation of UPSC rules and the West Bengal government’s refusal to follow the guidelines of the Supreme Court, which directed it to involve the UPSC in the process. The Mamata Banerjee government considered such involvement as infringement upon the federal system of the country. A senior minister had said that the “right of the state is being undermined”.
The Jharkhand government, too, flouted the rules recently, by appointing a DGP without the sanction of UPSC. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had, recently, gone to New Delhi to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and sources said that the matter was discussed there.
The West Bengal government moved Supreme Court last month against the UPSC’s role in selecting the DGP, after UPSC wrote a letter to the state chief secretary asking for the bio-data, detailing annual confidential reports and awards or punishment of 21 officers who had crossed 30 years of service. It was to be sent by the mid-July so that the UPSC can send the three names by the end of August when the post would be vacant due to retirement of former DGP, Virendra. What took the state government by surprise was that, for the first time, it was coaxed to fall in line by the DoPT, which comes under the PMO, to select the full-time DGP for the state. The “half-hearted” report (as termed by a home ministry official) was sent to the UPSC on August 23, just a week before Virendra’s retirement.
As time passed, the DoPT was left with no other choice but to appoint an acting DGP in West Bengal - Manoj Malviya, a 1986 batch IPS officer, who was the senior among all the officers, was appointed on August 31. A day later, the state government moved the apex court and engaged noted lawyer Sidharth Luthra.
Though the state sent the bio-data of the officers as requested by the UPSC, it did not include the names of the four officers who are on central deputation and who, too, might have expressed their desire to apply for the top job. They are Kuldiep Singh, DG - CRPF, Sashi Bhushan Singh Tomar, joint secretary, cabinet secretariat, Zulfikar Hasan, Special DG - CRPF, and Sanjay Chander, the recently appointed DG - RPF.
That the Mamata government had its own preference was evident when it went to the Supreme Court. The argument was strengthened when it did not send the details of the four senior officers serving outside the states and, instead, including the bio-data of Vivek Sahay, an officer close to the chief minister, who was suspended by the Election Commission of India for “dereliction of duties” when the chief minister was injured in Nandigram during election campaigning. What was interesting was that the state government (read, chief secretary) did not mention the details of his suspension in his bio-data. Sahay is the director of security, and is responsible for the security of the chief minister and VVIPs of the state.
The UPSC wrote back on August 26: “After examination of the proposal, following deficiencies have been intimated to the state government via email. The names of four officers—Kuldiep Singh, Sashi Bhushan Singh Tomar, Sanjay Chander and Zulfiqur Hassan who are also eligible for consideration have not been included in the eligibility list stating that these officers are on central deputation. It is mentioned that all eligible officers are required to be included in the eligibility list irrespective of the fact that the officers are on deputation with the government of India.”
On Sahay, the UPSC wrote, “Out of the officers included in the eligibility list by the state government, Bio Data of one officer (Shri Vivek Sahay) has not been furnished. It is mentioned that biodata of all the officers included in the eligibility list are required to be furnished for consideration by the Empanelment Committee Meeting (ECM). Copy of the chargesheet issued to Shri Vivek Sahay may be furnished.”
The UPSC also asked the state government to furnish details of all the court cases the 22 officers under consideration are facing. Another highlight of the UPSC’s letter was that the ACR (Annual Confidential Report) of the acting DGP, Malviya, has not been mentioned properly. There have been deficiencies in reporting of ACR of seven senior IPS officers, including one of the strong contenders, Adhir Sharma, DG - Railways. Even in the case of the officer, who, according to sources, is the favourite of the state government - Gangeshwar Singh, DG, Enforcement Branch - the ACR deficiencies are there.
The three-member bench of the Supreme Court, on September 3, dismissed the plea of the West Bengal government and asked the state to follow the rule of law as established, to select the head of the police force.
According to reports accessed by THE WEEK, the UPSC has not started the exercise of selecting the head of the police force in the state. But it is learnt that Malviya, known to be close to some BJP leaders, received a clean chit from the Union home ministry a couple of years back. In 2011, being an additional commissioner rank officer, he received vigilance sanction to begin prosecution against him. In 2013, being director of civil aviation, he was embroiled in another corruption allegation and was under the CBI lens. But the Arts graduate is the recipient of the police medal for distinguished service, by the home ministry.
The second officer, Suman Bala Sahoo, an IPS officer of 1987 cadre and the only woman in the list, has won the police medal and also the presidential police medal. She has Masters in Science, is an MPhil holder and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Rights. She has a clean image, too.
Another officer in the same batch, who was head of police force during the election, N.N. Pandey, is the winner of a police medal and has had a blemishless career. He has a Master’s degree in arts.
Ironically, a couple of weeks ago, Sahoo and Pandey were offered central deputation. None of the officers could be contacted. It remains to be seen whether they would accept the offer or not.
Another eligible officer in the list is Adhir Sharma, one of the cleanest officers of the West Bengal police force. The incumbent DG - Railway police, Sharma is a winner of UN peace medal along with the police medal. He is a Master’s degree holder and also has a Post Graduate Diploma.
Interestingly, all three officers—Sahoo, Pandey and Sharma—were asked by the Mamata government to accept voluntary retirement in order to pave the way for junior officers. But they declined.