SC allows Centre to withdraw troops from Darjeeling for Himachal polls

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court allowed the Centre on Friday to withdraw seven of the 15 companies of central police forces posted in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal and deploy them in Himachal Pradesh as a part of security arrangements for the forthcoming assembly elections.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also said that it will decide the scope of a court’s jurisdiction to compel the government to deploy armed forces to ensure security of citizens. “We will decide the issue holistically, including the question of whether courts can exercise their jurisdiction to pass such orders,” the court said.

The order came on Centre’s appeal against Calcutta HC that put on hold a government decision to pull out seven companies from the two districts after protests for a separate state of Gorkhaland. The top court also issued a notice to the West Bengal government.

Additional solicitor general Maninder Singh, who appeared for the Centre, took strong objection to the HC order. “Twentyfour high courts cannot start dictating to the Centre where to deploy armed forces,” he submitted. The forces, he said, were needed for election duty. The bench restrained the HC from taking up the case .

The HC order had come on a plea by the Mamata Banerjee government following the Centre’s refusal to extend the time to let the troops remain in the two districts.

THE ORDER ALLOWS THE GOVERNMENT TO PULL OUT SEVEN OF 15 TROOP COMPANIES TO DEPLOY IN HIMACHAL PRADESH