UP govt serves chargesheet to IAS Durga Shakti Nagpal; ball in Centre’s court

Time Up? UP IAS officers with CM after a friendly cricket match in Jan

IN YET another Sunday afternoon exercise, Uttar Pradesh government served a chargesheet to 2010 batch IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal who turned a national icon for taking on illegal sand mafia in Hindon and Yamuna river beds of West UP. Exactly a week ago, also a Sunday, Akhilesh Yadav government suspended the 28-year-old officer on the pretext of…
flaring up communal tension after she had reportedly ordered demolishing a wall of a religious structure in her sub-division. The action led to a nation-wide outrage, and on Friday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi stepped in, when she asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to “ensure that the officer is not unfairly treated.”
But the UP government remained defiant. Young woman IAS officer was served a chargesheet saying that she did not adhere to the rules while demolishing the wall of the religious structure. She has now 15 days to reply to the chargesheet. Significantly, her senior and DM of Gautam Budh Nagar submitted a report in Nagpal’s favour. Also, the police in the locality said there was no communal tension in the area which should have been sufficient for revocation of the suspension order. Meanwhile, Nagpal met state chief secretary Jawed Usmani, and also held an hour-long meeting with Akhilesh Yadav’s secretary Anita Singh in Lucknow. But her explanation did not help much. The UP government finally served her a chargesheet and sent a report to the Central government. The ball is now in Centre’s court, as Prime Minister can step in and overrule the state government’s decision. It could also be a fit case for the court to take up the issue suo motto. 
Meanwhile, a section of ruling Samajwadi Party leaders have been demanding action against the Gautam Budh Nagar DM too, as he exonerated Nagpal saying that she did not order bringing down any wall in the said religious structure. Further, there were demands that an FIR be filed against the young IAS.
For the record, 25% of the total revenue of the entire state of Uttar Pradesh is received from Gautam Buddh Nagar alone. The district also houses plants of multinational companies such as Daewoo Motor, Honda, BPL, LG, HCL etc.
(In picture: The scene after T20 cricket match between IAS officers and SP ministers, dated January 20, 2013. In fact, one IAS officer dropped two easy catches of Akhilesh Yadav, allowing the CM to complete a half century and also get the Man-of-the-Match award)