New Delhi, April 16 (IANS). The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to intervene in a petition filed against the large-scale bureaucratic reshuffle ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal. The court said transfers of officials before elections are a “common procedure”.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, while hearing a petition challenging the transfers of senior bureaucrats and police officers by the Election Commission of India, said that such steps have been taken in many states earlier also.
During the hearing, senior advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the Election Commission made the transfers without consulting the state government, which is against the statutory framework. To this, the bench said that to ensure fair elections, “it is always ideal to have observers from outside the state.”
However, the Supreme Court acknowledged that there was “some substance” to the issue of needing consultation with the state government, but refused to interfere in the matter in view of the impending assembly elections and left this legal question open for future consideration.
This petition was filed against the decision of the Calcutta High Court, which had upheld the transfer orders of the Election Commission. The High Court, in its March 31 decision, had said that the Election Commission has the right to transfer officials for fair elections and there is no need for a detailed investigation.
The high court had also said that the large-scale transfers have not led to any “administrative stagnation” in the state administration and mere transfer of a large number of officers cannot be termed as arbitrary or mala fide, especially when such steps are taken across the country.
It is noteworthy that after the implementation of the Code of Conduct, in March, the Election Commission had transferred the Chief Secretary, Director General of Police (DGP), Home Secretary and many District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police in West Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had objected to this and alleged that the Election Commission had weakened the rights of the state government by taking unilateral action.
–IANS
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