Centre in touch with UP Govt on IAS officer suspension issue: PM

As the Uttar Pradesh Government charge-sheeted IAS officer Durga Sakhti Nagpal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that the Centre is in touch with the State authorities on the issue and that the laid down rules will be followed.

“We are in touch with the State Government to find out the full details of the issue,” he told reporters outside Parliament House ahead of the start of the Monsoon Session.

He also said that the laid down rules to deal with such cases will be followed. “There are rules laid down and the rules will be followed,” he said.

The Centre had yesterday asked the UP Government to immediately give a report on the suspension of Nagpal, who had cracked down on sand mafia in Gautam Budh Nagar area.

Minister of State for Personnel V. Narayanasamy said that this is the third such letter sent to the State Government so far after the 2010-batch IAS officer was suspended on July 27.

The Centre’s fresh reminder came in the backdrop of Sonia Gandhi, who is the Chairperson of National Advisory Council (NAC), writing a letter to the Prime Minister, saying that Nagpal should not be “unfairly treated’’.

“We must ensure that the officer is not unfairly treated,” Gandhi had said in her letter to Singh, who holds the charge of Personnel Ministry.

The UP Government had yesterday served a charge-sheet to the IAS officer.

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 the demolition of a wall of a under-construction mosque allegedly without following the due process. Nagpal belonged to the UP cadre.

Sources said that the charge-sheet, which is believed to be running into 10 pages, was prepared based on a report of the Commissioner (Meerut Division). It is being reported that the officer has got 15 days to respond to the charge-sheet.