Union Home Ministry extends tenure of Bengal DGP by six months

Kolkata, April 29 Just 48 hours before the crucial second and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections, the Union Home Ministry on Monday issued an order extending the tenure of the current state Director General of Police (DGP) Siddh Nath Gupta by six months.

Gupta was supposed to retire from service on April 30.

\Under Secretary, Home Ministry, Sanjeev Kumar, on Monday, sent a communique to West Bengal Chief Secretary, Dushyant Nariala, to intimate him about the extension to Gupta beyond April 30, in relaxation of the Rule 16(I) (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958.

The extension to Gupta had been given in the public interest, it said.

A day after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the polling and counting days for four states, including West Bengal and one Union Territory, West Bengal DGP Peeyush Pandey was replaced by Gupta, a 1992 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer.

At that time, the Commission also replaced other key police officials of the state, including the Kolkata Police Commissioner, the Additional Director General (law & order) and the Additional Director (Correctional Services), among others.

On the very same day, the ECI also replaced the Chief Secretary, Nandini Chakrabarty, with Nariala and Home Secretary, Jagdish Prasad Meena, with Sanghamitra Ghosh.

This was followed by a series of transfers, replacements, and deputations of a series of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and IPS officers. In the next stage, there were transfers and replacements of West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) and West Bengal Police officials, mainly in the ranks of block development officers among the former and inspectors of police in the latter.

The ruling Trinamool Congress had been opposing such large-scale transfers since the beginning and even approached the Calcutta High Court against them. However, the court refused to intervene in the matter.

--IANS

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