CHANDIGARH: The Manohar Lal Khattar government transferred IPS officer Sangeeta Kalia on Saturday, a day after she had a heated argument with Haryana minister Anil Vij during a meeting of the district public relations and grievances committee in Fatehabad, even as National Commission for Scheduled Castes member Ishwar Singh sent a show-cause notice to the state chief secretary seeking a complete report on the incident.

Kalia, a Dalit officer, was shunted out to the post of Commandant 4th IRB (India Reserve Battalion), Manesar, with Om Parkash Narwal replacing her as Fatehabad SP .

The trigger for the spat between Vij and Kalia on Friday was a complaint moved by an NGO about the police not curbing liquor smuggling in Fatehabad district effectively. Vij, who was chairing the meeting, asked the officer what she was doing to curb the menace in areas bordering Punjab.

“We are taking action. We have registered over 2,500 cases. Many of these people come out on bail and indulge in smuggling again,” Kalia had told the minister. Not satisfied by her replies, the minister asked her to “get out”, but the SP refused. Finally, it was Vij who left the meeting in a huff.

Kalia’s transfer followed a report submitted by Vij to the chief minister and a communication by him to the director general of police (DGP) to ensure safety and security of the NGO and its office-bearers who had lodged the complaint. The chief minister’s office (CMO) justified the action against Kalia.

Vij, who kept tweeting through the day, found some support among politicians. INLD MP from Hisar Dushyant Chautala remarked that such incidents occur when bureaucracy goes out of control.

“If officers do not respect the Chair, that too in a public meeting for the welfare of masses, how do you expect them to behave with the public? The issue taken up with the SP was part of the agenda. How can a representative of government blame it (the Chair) for the wrongs?’’ Vij said and added that he would not stop acting against officials and employees who don’t work for public cause.

Kalia, who had apprised her seniors about the incident on Friday, got some support from her colleagues in the police force with Haryana Police Employees’ Association president Balwant Lamba terming Vij’s allegation as a “move initiated by him to be in the news all the time”. Lamba alleged that Vij had even misbehaved with a cop deployed in Ambala.

Meanwhile, Fatehabad district bar association has welcomed the action against Kalia. The association alleged that she had humiliated its members in August and some of them had even moved a criminal complaint against her.

Read this story in Malayalam: മന്ത്രിയുമായി വാഗ്വാദം: പോലീസ് ഓഫീസറിന് സ്ഥലംമാറ്റം