The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a petition against orders issued by the Election Commission transferring several officers in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections, reported Bar and Bench.
“It happens everywhere,” the legal news portal quoted a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi as saying. “Not the first time.”
However, the bench added that the legal issue raised by the petitioner regarding the poll panel's failure to consult the state government on the decision was valid. “We are not intervening in it as of now,” the bench said. “Question of law is kept open.”
The reshuffles were ordered after the schedule for the Assembly elections was announced on March 15. Among those who were transferred were the chief secretary, the home secretary and the director general of police, along with several Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service officers.
A petition was subsequently filed in the Calcutta High Court, which argued that the large-scale reshuffles in West Bengal would disrupt the functioning of the state administration.
The petitioner added that the decision amounted to an arbitrary and punitive use of power under Article 324 of the Constitution.
Article 324 gives the superintendence, direction and control of elections to the Election Commission.
The petitioner also contended that the move undermined principles of federalism.
On March 31, the High Court dismissed the petition, saying that it found no evidence of mala fide intent in the poll panel’s orders. It said that there was no evidence of administrative paralysis, adding that the replacements had been appointed and that similar or larger reshuffles had taken place in other states where polls are being held.
The petitioner then moved the Supreme Court.
In the Supreme Court on Thursday, advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for the petitioner, said that the process followed by the Election Commission was in contravention of the 1951 Representation of People Act. He also said that there was no consultation with the state government before the move.
Banerjee added that “1,100 officers were transferred overnight”.
“Under what authority?” he asked. “This happened for the first time in West Bengal…”
The chief justice noted that there was a “trust deficit” between the Election Commission and the West Bengal government.
Dismissing the petition, the bench kept the question of law open to be decided in another appropriate case.
In the transfer orders issued on March 16, the Election Commission had directed that those transferred out of their positions should not be posted in any election-related assignment till the completion of the polls.
The orders had triggered a row, with Trinamool Congress MPs walking out of the Rajya Sabha.
The Assembly elections will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29 in the state. The votes will be counted on May 4.
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