Deployment of Central forces to provide security to Income Tax officials during search operations and raids is not a new phenomenon, but is used sparingly, officials said, responding to criticism from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Ms. Banerjee on Friday wrote to Home Minister Rajnath Singh alleging that the “Centre’s decision to make available 15 personnel of the CRPF apparently providing ‘security’ to Income-Tax officials and the staff deputed for operations in West Bengal” was “blatantly unconstitutional, illegal and against all principles of conservative federalism.”
Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Jayant Mishra told The Hindu that Central police forces have been requisitioned regularly during operations.
“Whenever any officer conducts searches and he or she finds it prudent that the local police are not available in sufficient number, they can always request for Central forces. This is something that is done regularly. It’s a common procedure to take the help of the local police, but then Central police forces are also deployed often,” said Mr. Mishra, who is also the secretary of the IRS Officers Association. Mr. Mishra, however, pointed out that Central forces never participate in a raid. They are deployed only for the security of the search team and the property raided.
When a team of I-T officials searched the residence of former Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P. Rama Mohan Rao in Chennai earlier this week, it had asked the Centre for “personal security cover”.
A night before the searches, an I-T team comprising officials from the Chennai office, requested the Home Ministry for security cover for a “secret assignment”. The request was not for a large force, but a team of 20-22 security personnel. The Home Ministry sanctioned CRPF personnel. The Tamil Nadu government was also not aware of the deployment.
Another official said, “The convention is that an I-T team, on most occasions, takes the help of the local police. It is only in some 20 per cent of the cases, where secrecy has to be maintained or when the case is of sensitive nature, that a request is made for central forces.”
Ms. Banerjee alleged in her letter that the West Bengal government was not informed and that central forces could not be deployed in the State without the request of the State government.
A senior Home Ministry official clarified that since the central forces did not participate in the raids, their use did not amount to any infringement.
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told The Hindu that political interest “should not overtake” the national interest.
