SC allows Centre to relocate half of force from Darjeeling to poll-bound Gujarat

The Calcutta High Court had stayed the withdrawal of CAPF from strife-torn Darjeeling hills till October 27 after the state opposed the Centre’s decision.

The Supreme Court on Monday permitted the Centre to withdraw four of the eight companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) from strife-torn Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal for deployment in poll-bound Gujarat.

Paramilitary forces stand guard at the main market area during an indefinite strike called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) for separate state Gorkhaland in Kalimpong on September 3, 2017. (AFP File Photo)

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud agreed to the Centre’s plea to relocate half of the remaining paramilitary forces from the state’s strife-torn districts to the poll-bound state.

The apex court had earlier on October 27 permitted the Centre to withdraw seven of the 15 companies of CAPF from Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts for deployment along the borders of Jammu and Kashmir and in the north-eastern states and to the poll-bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

The Calcutta High Court had earlier stayed the withdrawal of CAPF from Darjeeling hills, the scene of unrest over the statehood demand, till October 27 after the state government approached it opposing the Centre’s decision.