SC to hear plea on Durga Shakti Monday

The Supreme Court will hear Monday a petition seeking a stay on the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal by the Uttar Pradesh government.

The apex court bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai Thursday agreed to look at the matter when petitioner advocate M.L. Sharma mentioned it before the court.

The petitioner also sought restrictions on the proceedings related to a charge sheet issued to Nagpal by the state government.

Nagpal was suspended last month ostensibly for breaking down a wall of a mosque, an action the state government said could have triggered communal tension. She was placed under suspension July 27 and issued a charge sheet Aug 4.

But the widespread belief -- strengthened by a ruling Samajwadi Party leader's public claim -- is that action was taken against her because she took on a mafia extracting sand illegally from the Hindon and Yamuna river beds in Noida.

Sharma said the action of the state government amounted to contempt of court as it was contrary to the Sep 29, 2009 order which said no authorised structure would come up on public land in the name of a religious place.

The apex court Sep 29, 2009 directed collectors and officers in all states that no unauthorised construction shall be carried out or permitted in the name of temple, church, mosque or gurdwara, on public streets, public parks or other public places.

Sharma said Nagpal's suspension was "a new low in a long process of the subversion of bureaucracy".

The petition said the bureaucrats were a permanent feature of the administration and required to serve the party in power.

Referring to the statements by the Samajwadi Party leaders that they did not need Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers to run the affairs in Uttar Pradesh, the petition said they had no right to jeopardise the administrative set up.