AMN / NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court today allowed the Centre to withdraw the remaining four companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) from West Bengal’s violence-hit Darjeeling area after the 8th of next month.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, considered Attorney General K K Venugopal’s submission that the deployment of the central armed forces fell under the Central government’s administrative domain.
The apex court set aside the Calcutta High Court order that had restrained the Centre from withdrawing CAPF from the state’s hill regions on the ground that normalcy had not returned.
Earlier, the apex court had permitted the Centre to withdraw 11 of the 15 companies of the forces.
The Calcutta High Court had stayed the withdrawal from Darjeeling hills, the scene of unrest over the statehood demand, after the state government approached it, opposing the Centre’s decision.