SC to hear Centre's plea challenging Calcutta HC order on withdrawal of security forces from Darjeeling

The Union govt approached the Supreme Court on Wednesday accusing the Calcutta High Court of mingling into the affairs of the executive by interfering with its decision on deployment of armed forces to maintain national security and territorial integrity.

On October 17, the HC had stayed till October 27 the Centre's decision to withdraw 10 of the 15 companies of central armed police forces (CAPFs) from the districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, which saw violent protests for a separate state spearheaded by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). The decision led to a spat between the Centre and the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee.

The Centre's appeal through advocate S Wasim Qadri was very open in expressing displeasure at the HC's decision to interfere with the executive's sole prerogative to determine deployment of forces for the purpose of maintenance of law and order, territorial integrity and national security. A bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar ordered listing of Centre's petition on October 27 for hearing.

The Centre said the decision on redeployment of CAPFs was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by home minister Rajnath Singh which considered inputs from intelligence agencies after GJM withdrew its 104-day agitat ion on September 2 9. West Bengal had requested the Centre to keep the forces deployed for two more months. The state government then moved the HC.

The Centre said the HC was not the appropriate forum to decide deployment of forces. "Courts cannot express their opinion as to whether at a particular juncture or under a particular situation prevailing in the country, which policy should be adopted and how national security of the country is to be maintained and how armed forces should be deployed," it said.