Supreme Court allows Centre to pull troops from Darjeeling, Kalimpong for election duties in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Centre to withdraw seven of the 15 companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) from strife-torn Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal for being used for election duties in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. A bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, asked West Bengal government to respond within a week to the Centre’s appeal against the Calcutta High Court order directing it to allow all 15 companies of paramilitary forces to remain in the state. The bench, which also comprised Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, stayed the pending proceedings before the Calcutta High Court saying it will deal with the case “in a holistic manner”. [caption id=“attachment_4179513” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] The court has now fixed the appeal of the Centre for further hearing on 27 November. The Calcutta High Court had stayed the withdrawal of CAPF from the Darjeeling hills, the scene of unrest over the statehood demand, till 27 October after the state government approached it against the Centre’s decision. The high court had on 14 July directed the Centre to deploy four more companies of CAPF in addition to the 11 that was already present in the hills then. The West Bengal government had written to the Centre seeking extended deployment of CAPF till 25 December, but was told that of the 15 companies present, 10 would be withdrawn on 15 October and the rest by 20 October.