Kolkata, March 31 (IANS) A division bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Tuesday, quashed two public interest litigations (PILs) filed by a Trinamool Congress leader challenging the decisions of the Election Commission of India's large-scale transfers of bureaucrats and police officers in West Bengal amid the two-phase Assembly elections in the state next month.
The case was argued in the court by the party's Lok Sabha member, Kalyan Banerjee, who served as the petitioner's counsel.
One of the two public interest litigations was related to the transfer of bureaucrats and police officers at the topmost level, like Chief Secretary, West Bengal Home Secretary, Director General of Police, Commissioner of Kolkata Police, and additional director general (law & order), among others.
The second public interest litigation was related to the transfer of bureaucrats and police officers on the lowest rung in the pyramid of general and police administration in the state, namely block development officers, who are also the returning officers and inspectors of police.
On Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court’s Division Bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen quashed the two public interest litigations, accepting that the Commission was well within its right to transfer bureaucrats and police officers while the model code of conduct is in force.
The Division bench also rejected the petitioner’s argument that such large-scale transfers, and that too at the highest levels of general and police administration in West Bengal, were deliberate since the same was not applicable in other poll-bound states and territories.
Instead, the court accepted the Commission’s argument that transfers and replacements of bureaucrats and police officers vary from state to state since those are done based on the ground realities in the states concerned.
Since the announcement of the two-phase polling schedule for West Bengal on March 15, the Commission has periodically issued transfer orders for bureaucrats and police officers at different levels.
The transfer process began with top-ranking bureaucrats such as the Chief Secretary and Home Secretary, and Director Generals and Additional Director Generals in the case of the police.
In the second phase, transfers were carried out for mid-level officers such as District Magistrates in the case of the bureaucracy and Deputy Inspector Generals, Superintendents, and Deputy Commissioners in the police administration.
The third and final phase of transfers is currently one for the lower levels in the administrative hierarchy, including Additional District Magistrates, Sub-Divisional Officers, and Block Development Officers in general administration, and Additional Superintendents, Deputy Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, Assistant Commissioners, and Inspectors in the police administration.
--IANS
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