Electoral body removes top West Bengal police officer a day after appointment

Vivek Sahay, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was initially given this appointment.

Kolkata:

The Election Commission on Tuesday sacked Vivek Sahay as West Bengal’s deputy attorney general, less than 24 hours after appointing him to the post, and directed the state government to appoint Sanjoy Mukherjee ) took his place, Sanjoy Mukherjee, a year junior to Sahay in the IPS cadre.

The move is unprecedented in recent memory and makes Mr Sahay the shortest serving DGP in West Bengal.

Sahay, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was initially given the appointment as he was the senior-most officer in the force. But a senior official said the poll panel was considering appointing Mukherjee, a 1989-batch officer, as the deputy general secretary as Mukherjee is scheduled to receive his pension on May 31, well before the Lok Sabha elections officially conclude on June 4. Officer.

Mukherjee was among the three officials recommended by the Bangladesh government for the post of DGP of ECI, while Rajeev Kumar was recommended to be removed from the post by the Bangladesh government. (Mukherjee) is the state director of fire and emergency services and ranks second. Election eve.

The Bengal government on Monday appointed Rajeev Kumar as attorney general on “non-election related assignments” and as a temporary arrangement a junior officer on the instructions of the ECI. Sahay as replacement.

Curiously, while Sahay’s appointment notification was issued by the state home department, which mentioned the ECI order, the corresponding notification to Mukherjee a day later was issued directly by the commission.

Explaining the sudden change of mind on the appointment of the state’s top cop, a senior EC official told PTI that Sahai’s appointment was only a “temporary appointment”.

However, he did not explain why the appointment notified by the state government was overturned in less than 24 hours.

However, another official on the polling panel said Sahai was appointed as DGP solely because of his qualifications and experience.

“But since he was supposed to retire in May, even before the last round of voting on June 1, the ECI decided to make this change. If Sahay continues in the DGP post, he will have to be replaced again in the middle of the election process. That is why Mukherjee has been charged,” he told PTI.

However, a former IPS officer holding a senior post in West Bengal told PTI that the commission reserves the power to extend the tenure of an officer if the officer is assigned for any special task, such as conducting elections, by the poll body itself.

“I don’t believe the retirement clause was the only reason to remove Sahay,” said the former official, who requested anonymity.

“Sai could have easily remained as the state’s deputy director general till the elections. I believe our country has never had a director general for such a short period before,” he said.

The ECI suspended Sahay, then security director, after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sustained a leg injury in March 2021 while campaigning for the state assembly elections in Nandigram.

The decision to suspend Sahai was based on a report submitted by the then West Bengal Chief Secretary.

On March 11, 2021, while greeting supporters standing on the running boards of a car in Nandigram, Banerjee injured her left foot when her foot got caught between the front door and the car seat due to the pressure of the crowd.

Incidentally, the poll panel had also removed Rajeev Kumar from office twice before, during the 2016 assembly polls and the 2019 general elections.

Kumar was transferred to the information and technology department on Monday, an assignment unrelated to the election.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)