SP, Centre spat over suspension issue

A defiant Samajwadi Party (SP) today appeared heading for a confrontation with the Centre over the IAS officer's suspension issue, asserting that UP government's decision is "correct and final" and went a step further taunting it to remove all IAS officers from the state.
Firing the first salvo, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said the decision to suspend IAS officer Durga Sakthi Nagpal, who hit the spotlight for cracking down on the sand mafia, is justified.
"It is correct. It is final," he told reporters outside Parliament House with a firm "no" on being asked whether the suspension order would be revoked.

Amid the brewing hostility between the SP and the Centre over the suspension issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Government is in touch with the state authorities on the issue and that laid down rules will be followed.
The unrelenting stand of the ruling SP government was also voiced in Lucknow by Chief Minister Akhjilesh Yadav who made it clear that officials who make "mistakes" will be punished.
"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", Akhilesh, who has justified the suspension of Nagpal, a 2010-batch officer, said at a function.

In Delhi, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav struck a defiant note. "If the Centre wants to intervene, it can remove all the IAS officers from Uttar Pradesh. We will run the state with our own officers," he said.

Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy said that under the rules, the suspended officer has the right to appeal.
"She has not approached us so far. But if she sends her appeal to us, we will send its copy to the state government and seek its response. Then we will decide the future course of action. Normally, an officer approaches the state government... We cannot act suo moto," he said.

Nagpal, the 28-year-old SDM of Gautam Budh Nagar, who led the crackdown on sand mining mafia in her district, was suspended on July 27 ostensibly for ordering demolition of a wall of a under-construction mosque allegedly without following the due process. Nagpal, who belongs to the UP cadre, was chargesheeted on Sunday.