Lucknow: A day after UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav justified the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, senior minister Ahmed Hasan on Tuesday asked the suspended official to apologise and said media and officials taking up her cause were harming their own credibility.
In a statement that expressed the unrelenting stand of the Samajwadi Party government over the IASofficer's suspension, UP minister Ahmed Hasan in the presence of Yadav and his cabinet colleagues said the issue was being 'highlighted unnecessarily'.
"Media is highlighting it. This issue is harming the credibility of media and officials," Hasan said during a launch of a government programme at the CM's residence. He further added that a section of the media was creating unnecessary hype and a paper today even termed Nagpal as more popular than Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.
Nagpal is a young official who was suspended for demolition of a mosque's wall and she needs to apologise, the minister said. Stressing that Nagpal had been suspended on the report of the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) as she did not perform her duty, Hasan asked the IAS association to maintain its dignity.
Hasan also said that once the family to which Nagpal is revealed, all would know whom they had been backing.
Describing Akhilesh Yadav as a 'decent' chief minister, he reminded the IAS officers and media of the previous government under which they were not even allowed to express their views.
The minister also attacked the central government for politicising the issue and defaming the state government. They should understand the emotions of the people, he said adding that Noida is just adjacent to Delhi and the Centre could find out the facts themselves. He also blamed the opposition of giving unnecessary importance to the issue. 
The 28-year-old Sub-Divisional Magistrate was suspended on July 27 ostensibly for ordering the demolition of the wall of an under-construction mosque in a village in Noida without following the due process. The UP government had on August 4 served a charge sheet on the officer, asking her to submit an explanation for her conduct. 
 
Coming out in support of Nagpal, Congress President and the Chairperson of National Advisory Council (NAC) Sonia Gandhi has written a letter to the Prime Minister, saying that she should not be 'unfairly treated'. The Prime Minister had on Monday said the Centre was in touch with the state authorities on the issue and laid down rules will be followed. 
 
Officials like Nagpal should be saluted, not suspended: Manish Tewari
 
New Delhi: Backing Uttar Pradesh IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal for her crackdown on sand mining mafia, Union Minister Manish Tewari on Tuesday said officials who check illegalities should be saluted and not suspended.
 
"I think the bureaucracy works according to the law of the land.Officers like her who deal with aberrations, who check illegalities, should be saluted and not suspended," the Information and Broadcasting Minister told media in Delhi.
 
On alleged illegal mining in Punjab, the Congress MP from Ludhiana said, officers like Nagpal are needed in the state to curb the malpractice.
 
"...we wish we had a few officers like Nagpal in Punjab, where a lot of illegal mining is going on, Tewari said. On the issue of frequent disruptions in Parliament by the members including from Congress, Tewari said, "If anybody disturbs Parliament, it is extremely unfortunate, irrespective of whichever side he or she may be from."
 
"Parliament should be allowed to continue, there are issues on which sensitivities, at times emotions run high, but as political leaders maturity demands that we take that in our stride and we allow supreme legislative institutions to function," he said.
 
Next: PIL in SC against suspension of UP IAS officer Durga Shakti

 
PIL in SC against suspension of UP IAS officer Durga Shakti 
 
New Delhi: The suspension issue of Uttar Pradesh IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, who had cracked down on illegal sand mining, on Tuesday reached the Supreme Court with the filing of a public interest litigation seeking quashing of all proceedings against her.
 
The UP government and the Centre have been made respondents in the petition filed by advocate M.L. Sharma. Contending that the action taken against Nagpal was arbitrary, unconstitutional and malafide, the PIL has sought quashing of all proceedings against the 2010 batch IASofficer who had clamped down on the mining mafia in Gautam Budh Nagar area of UP.