DNA Edit: Politics of Admin - Rajeev Kumar is caught between a rock & a hard place

The curious case of West Bengal Additional Director General CID and former Kolkata Police Commissioner, Rajeev Kumar, is a reminder that the system of policing in India, laid down lock, stock and barrel by the British government in the mid-nineteenth century, is under strain.

The weaknesses particularly show up when the central and state government are at loggerheads. Kumar, as a top functionary of the West Bengal Police, is answerable to the state government, but is also governed by the Central government, and at the moment, he is caught between a rock and a hard place.

The CBI has served him a notice to appear before it for questioning, hours after his protection from arrest was struck down by the Kolkata High Court. Last week, the court set aside its order that granted him interim protection from arrest in the Saradha chit fund scam. It rejected Kumar’s plea for quashing the CBI notice seeking his appearance for questioning, saying the petitioner’s allegation that he was being singled out could not be true.

Kumar was part of a Special Investigation Team set up by the state government to investigate the scam before the Supreme Court handed over the case to the CBI in 2014, along with other chit fund cases. In March, the Supreme Court said the CBI’s findings were “serious” and had asked the probe agency to file its application against Kumar.

A team of CBI officials was in February detained by the Kolkata Police after it went to Kumar’s residence to question him in connection with the Saradha chit fund case. Rajiv Kumar is, in a sense, a test case. The appointment for central government services, including the IPS, are in accordance with the All India Services Act, 1951, passed by the Parliament to regulate the recruitment and the conditions of service.

Under the ground rules of administration, IAS or IPS officers are allocated a state cadre or a joint cadre. They have to serve within the cadre allocated to them. While posted in their state cadre, they are under the control of the state government concerned. These officers can also be posted under the central government on deputation. During such postings, they are under the control of the central government.

Though there is a serious case for police reforms in the country, the system has worked thus far, even if not with the highest degree of efficiency. The problem begins when the political leaderships of the day find themselves on the opposite side.

The Modi government has been pursuing several corruption cases in West Bengal in which top functionaries of the ruling Trinamool Congress have been found to be involved. For the Mamata Banerjee government, it is anathema for the Centre to investigate matters of probity, particularly when some of its leading lights face corruption charges.

Even in the case of Kumar, his loyalty first lies with the state government, but the overall terms of his service are governed by the central government, which is also the cadre controlling authority. The findings of the high court in this case would be significant for further streamlining administrative bottlenecks.