Mamata Govt to Move SC Over IPS Deputation Row, Hours After it Agrees to Meet Centre Post Initial Snub

The West Bengal government will move the Supreme Court over its ongoing row with the Centre after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last week refused to send the state’s chief secretary and police chief to New Delhi deterring from compliance with Union Home Ministry’s summons after the attack on Bharatiya Janata Party chief JP Nadda’s convoy in Diamond Harbour on December 10.

The latest development comes even as the Centre and state government have agreed to hold a virtual meeting on Friday at 5pm to discuss the “law and order situation” in the Bengal post the attack on Nadda’s convoy last week.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had asked the Chief Secretary and DGP West Bengal for a meeting in Delhi, ANI reported. The communication was sent on Thursday, and the meeting was scheduled for Friday at 5.30 pm amid escalation of the row between the Bengal government and Centre over an attack on Nadda’s convoy at Diamond Harbour on December 10. The top officers responded seeking a virtual meeting with the Centre, instead.

This is the second time that the two top officials were summoned to Delhi. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last week refused to send the state’s chief secretary and police chief to New Delhi deterring from compliance with Union Home Ministry’s summons.

In the same week, Nadda’s convoy was pelted with stones at Sirakol in Diamond Harbour area of South 24 Parganas district, where he had gone to address a rally.

The MHA had summoned Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay and DGP Virendra last Friday asking them to present themselves on December 14 for an explanation on the law and order situation in the state, following Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s report on the attack on Nadda’s convoy.

Bandopadhyay however, wrote to Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, saying he has been directed to request to “dispense with the presence of the state officials” in the meeting convened on December 14.