24 hours on, EC replaces new West Bengal DGP

KOLKATA: Less than 24 hours after naming him as the West Bengal DGP, the Election Commission on Tuesday removed Vivek Sahay from the post and directed the State government to appoint Sanjoy Mukherjee, a year junior to Sahay in the IPS cadre, in his place.

The move, unprecedented in recent memory, rendered Sahay the shortest-serving DGP of West Bengal.

Sahay, an IPS officer of the 1988 batch, was initially offered the appointment since he was the senior-most officer in the force. But owing to his scheduled superannuation on May 31, ahead of the counting for the Lok Sabha elections on June 4, the poll panel considered naming Mukherjee, a 1989-batch officer, as the DGP.

Mukherjee, the Director General of the State Fire & Emergency Services was the second on the list of the three officers recommended by the Bengal government for the post after the ECI directed the removal of Rajeev Kumar from that position.

Curiously, while Sahay’s appointment notification was made by the State Home Department in which it referred to the ECI order, the notification for Mukherjee a day later was made directly by the commission.

While senior EC officials justified the sudden change as an “interim appointment” and cited Sahay’s retirement, a former IPS officer in West Bengal cadre who served in senior positions told news agency PTI that the commission had the power to extend the tenure of an official if he/she was marked for any special assignment, such as the conduct of elections.

“I am not convinced that the retirement clause is the only grounds for removing Sahay,” the former officer said requesting anonymity.