Durga Shakti Nagpal: Centre can do nothing

Centre cannot intervene in an administrative enquiry instituted against an officer by state

Furious Samajwadi Party leaders today said there was no question on going back on the action taken against IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal against whom a chargesheet has been issued and an administrative enquiry has been initiated, and the centre reluctantly conceded that there was not a lot it could do in a matter that concerned a state government and an officer posted in the state, even if she was from the Indian Administrative Service.

“If the state government finds an officer has taken a bribe and suspends the officer pending an enquiry, the centre can do very little. Similarly, the centre cannot intervene in an administrative enquiry instituted against an officer by the state government” said a top minister plainly.

This means that Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s missive to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been an exercise in futility and achieved little – on the contrary it lost political capital for the government because the Samajwadi party is now furious.
In Lucknow and Delhi, SP leaders said officials are punished whenever they do something wrong and the Centre can withdraw IAS officers from the state.

"There might be many children (sitting here) who I can say would have received a beating from their teachers and parents when they had done something wrong. The government is also run like this. Whenever any official does something wrong, he is punished," Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said while addressing a function in Lucknow.

On the Centre seeking a report from the state on the suspension of the officer, senior Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav asked the Centre to withdraw all IAS officers from the state.

To a question on whether the Centre was setting a precedent by interfering in the matter, Yadav retorted that under the circumstances, the "state would ask the Centre to withdraw all IAS officers, the government would run with the help of its (provincial services) officers".

The SP leader said the suspension was an administrative matter and his party did not want to politicise it.

The Centre has already sought a report on the suspension of the officer through letters. The state government has issued a charge-sheet to Nagpal, giving her 15 days to submit her reply.