The West Bengal government on Thursday transferred out Darjeeling district magistrate Manish Mishra, replacing him with Sunil Agarwala, who was posted as the special secretary in the north Bengal development department.
The government’s decision to move out Mishra just months after his appointment as district magistrate comes against the backdrop of a controversy over an alleged protocol breach during President Droupadi Murmu’s visit to north Bengal on March 7.
On Saturday, Murmu expressed disappointment over the change of venue for the 9th International Santhal Conference from Bidhannagar in Darjeeling district’s Phansidewa block, to Gosainpur near Siliguri 25km away. Murmu said the change in venue limited participation. People aware of the matter told HT on Saturday that the change was made due to security protocol.
A state government official also said the central government has requisitioned the services of Manish Mishra and the Siliguri police commissioner C Sudhakar and asked the two officers to report in Delhi within three days.
There has been no official word about the move by the ministry of home affairs and the department of personnel and training (DoPT), the cadre controlling authorities for Indian Police Service (IPS) officers and Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers.
According to a state government order seen by HT, Mishra, a 2015 batch IAS officer, has been posted as special secretary in the Home & Hill Affairs Department. Sunil Agarwala, who replaces him in Darjeeling, is a 1994-batch officer in the West Bengal Civil Service (Executive).
The changes come ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state on Saturday. He is scheduled to address an administrative event and a massive rally organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Grounds.
After President Murmu criticised the state government over the alleged protocol breach, PM Modi accused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) of “crossing all limits” and insulting the President. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had hit back, claiming the BJP was using the country’s highest office to malign the state and also questioned the President’s “silence” on alleged atrocities against tribals in BJP-ruled states.
Referring to reports that the central government had requisitioned the services of the two civil servants, Trinamool Congress spokesperson and state vice president Jay Prakash Majumdar said this was a Centre-State matter guided by the established protocol.
”The consent of the state is necessary. The recent case of calling two IAS and IPS officers on central deputation is nothing but a political vendetta by the BJP-led Centre. It also reflects how the BJP is demeaning the post of the President while involving her to fulfil their political agenda,” Majumdar said.
Samik Bhattacharya, state BJP president and the party’s Rajya Sabha MP, declined to comment on the decision. “This is purely an administrative matter between the Centre and the State, and the BJP has no political comments on this. Also, the President’s chair is above all politics. I would just like to say that had the Centre called more officers from West Bengal on deputation in the past, the law-and-order situation in the state would have been different”.
