IAS association demands revocation of its officer's suspension

LUCKNOW: IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, who was leading crackdown on sand mafia and was shunted out by the Uttar Pradesh government, met the officiating chief secretary and demanded revocation of her suspension order.

Nagpal was accompanied by members of the IAS association. "We went to meet the chief secretary and demanded revocation of the suspension. He said he will look into it," secretary of the IAS association, Parthsarathi Sen Sharma said.

Officiating Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan said the matter would be placed before Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Akhilesh is currently not in the state. He has gone to Bangalore, where he and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav are scheduled to address a rally.

The 2009-batch IAS officer, posted as Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Gautam Budh Nagar, had clamped down on illegal mining and taken on powerful sand mafia in Uttar Pradesh. She was suspended barely 10 months after she got her first posting in the state.

Justifying the suspension of 28-year-old Nagpal, the government said in a statement that she was suspended for getting a wall at a disputed place of worship removed without following legal process.

"SDM Nagpal has been suspended for getting wall of a mosque removed without following legal process in an unforesighted manner which affected the communal atmosphere," a government spokesman had said here.

He said during suspension, Nagpal would remain attached to the Revenue Board.

Slamming the SP government, Opposition parties had alleged that the suspension order was made under pressure from the mining mafia.

Nagpal had led a crackdown on unauthorised mining in the district and got over two dozen FIRs registered against those involved in illegally removing sand.

Special flying squads were formed by her to stop the raging menace along the Yamuna and Hindon rivers in western UP.

Only last week, the officer had asserted that there will be no let-up in the fight against unauthorised dredgers.