NEW DELHI: Amid media reports that the home ministry had started
disciplinary proceedings
against
Kolkata police commissioner
Vineet Goyal and DCP Indira Mukherjee for alleged misconduct, MHA sources said the Centre could not initiate action unilaterally against
IPS officers
serving in a state as the
disciplinary authority
competent to do so was the CM of the state concerned, as per rules governing All-India Services, including IPS.
Sources said while the home ministry has received a complaint from West Bengal governor C V Ananda Bose alleging that Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goyal and deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Central, Indira Mukherjee had engaged in misconduct and were functioning in a manner "unbecoming" of members of all-India services, it has not yet moved forward on it. "No disciplinary proceedings have been initiated," a home ministry officer told TOI.
As per All-India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968, and All-India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, the disciplinary authority for a member of All-India Services including IPS who is serving under the state govt is the state govt itself. MHA, being the cadre-controlling authority, can request a state govt, in case a complaint of misconduct is received against IPS officers, to initiate disciplinary proceedings as per service rules. The state govt may refuse to do so, denying outright any misconduct on part of the said officer, or go through with the disciplinary proceedings, which may end in the officer's exoneration. The MHA may also summon the officer serving in a state for an explanation or even recall him/her to the Centre, but for both these actions the state must give permission or relieve the said officer.
In the past few years, there have been cases where the Centre has sought disciplinary action against officers serving in West Bengal after finding their conduct to be in violation of service rules. Two such officers were then West Bengal chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, an IAS officer who was recalled to the Centre in 2021 after he failed to attend a review meeting on Cyclone Yaas taken by PM Narendra Modi, and then Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar against whom MHA sought disciplinary proceedings in 2019 for sitting on a dharna alongside CM Mamata Banerjee.
However, no harm came to either officer as the state govt stood firmly by them. Bandyopadhyay was never relieved by the West Bengal govt even after being recalled. Kumar, considered close to Banerjee, went on to become DGP of West Bengal; in fact, the EC had removed him from the DGP's post during the recent Lok Sabha polls, keeping in mind his proximity to the CM, which it saw as an impediment to free and fair elections in the state.
Given the background, the MHA may be contemplating its limited options vis-a-vis action on Bengal governor's complaint against Goyal and Mukherjee.
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