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The Gujarat Revenue Department on Sunday suspended Nilesh Dubey, Assistant Commissioner of Statue of Unity (SoU), and directed him to remain at the dispensation of the Bhavnagar District Collector during the period of suspension.
The order comes just two days after a controversy broke out over an audio clip allegedly of a conversation between Dubey and an officer of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), in which Dubey was heard making ‘derogatory’ remarks against the tribal community.
The order from the Revenue Department on Sunday said that Dubey, an Assistant Commissioner of The Sardar Sarovar Punarvasahat Agency (SSPA), is a Class 1 officer of the Revenue Department and had been handed additional charge at Statue of Unity since December 7, 2018. “During his duty at SoU, NR Dubey has made uncalled-for comments against a specific community of the state, as per news reports. The comments made by NR Dubey are hurtful to the sentiments of the community and unbecoming of a Class-1 officer, who is expected to be responsible,” a circular released by the department states
“Following the incident, it has been decided that a disciplinary action will be initiated against NR Dubey… It has been decided to suspend the officer until the completion of the inquiry in the matter,” it further said.
The decision, the circular states, has been taken in accordance with Section 5(1)(a) of the Gujarat Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1971. The order also states that Dubey will need to seek explicitly written permission for leaving Bhavnagar.
“In case the officer needs to go out of Bhavnagar for seven or more days, it is mandatory for him to intimate his address and contact details of the location to the officer-in-charge,” the circular added.
The order also states that the suspension will remain in force until explicitly revoked by another subsequent order.
On Friday, a group of protestors gathered outside Ekta Mall and chanted slogans against Dubey, demanding he be booked under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The protestors, which included party workers of both Congress and BJP, along with the locals, also burnt an effigy of Dubey. However, when they attempted to obstruct the road leading to SoU, police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the crowd.
Narmada district police said that no official police complaint had been received against Dubey so far.
Dubey, who released the entire audio clip had said in a statement on Friday, that he was “speaking in order to defend” an employee of SoU “who has been barred by the CISF after a grievance from CISF that the employee had inappropriately touched a woman officer of CISF.”..
Dubey also said that the audio clip was an “edited version of this conversation” and “an attempt to provoke peace in the area”.
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