EC shifts police officer with fair record - Move comes within 24 hours of announcing the Assembly poll schedule in Bengal

Move comes within 24 hours of announcing the Assembly poll schedule in Bengal

Jawed Shamim: Telegraph picture

TT Bureau   |   Calcutta   |   28.02.21 : The Election Commission of India has replaced additional director-general (law and order) Jawed Shamim with director-general of fire and emergency services Jag Mohan within 24 hours of announcing the Assembly poll schedule in Bengal.

Mohan, a 1991 batch  IPS officer, will now coordinate with the Election Commission on behalf of the state for deploying forces in the forthcoming Assembly polls and monitoring logistic arrangements for the central forces to be sent to the state.

Shamim, a 1995 batch IPS officer, will  be posted as the DG of fire and emergency services. He had taken over as ADG (law and order) only on February 8.

“On Saturday morning, the ECI had sought names for the post of ADG (law and order) and in the evening, the ECI issued the order to bring in Jag Mohan to the post to replace Shamim,” said a senior government official. 

Shamim, known as an upright officer, had earned accolades from the Opposition for strictly handling law and order across Salt Lake and its adjoining areas during the fifth phase of the 2016 Assembly polls. He was then the commissioner of the Bidhannagar police commissionerate.

“No political party has ever had anything to complain about Shamim because of his deft handling of situations,” said an IPS officer senior to Shamim.

Shamim was brought in to the post of ADG (Law and Order) on February 8 by the state government, replacing Gyanwant Singh and  keeping the forthcoming elections in mind.

Not only Shamim, a series of IPS and IAS officers, including the police commissioner of Calcutta, were transferred by the state government before the polls were announced.

The changes, sources said, were made by the state government in order to make the ECI think twice before removing officers once the model code of conduct is put in place. Usually, the poll panel shifts key officers who have spent considerable time in a particular post.

The state government had posted non-controversial officers in important positions and removed officers against whom the Opposition parties, particularly the BJP, had complaints, said an official.

The official added that if the poll panel removed an officer ahead of the polls, it would hurt the morale of the state’s bureaucracy.

“This is the reason Soumen Mitra, a 1988 batch IPS officer, was made the city police chief, Shamim was made the ADG (law and order) and Supratim Sarkar, a 1997 batch IPS officer, was made the police commissioner of Bidhannagar,” said a senior bureaucrat.

No reason has been stated till Saturday evening for the transfer of Shamim.

Suvendu Adhikari, who had switched to the BJP from Trinamul, had demanded at a rally in Hooghly the removal of all top Nabanna officials and alleged that they often interfered in the election process.

The BJP leadership has complained against Mitra, Calcutta’s new police commissioner, for not offering them a hearing.

 Mitra had earned critical appreciation for holding a violence-free poll in 2016 in Calcutta as the then chief of the city police force.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the poll panel had transferred 70-odd officers, including the then city police chief, and a number of district magistrates and superintendents of police.