Thanjavur: More astounding than the political developments in the State, the entry of some senior IPS officers wearing the white uniform of the Marshals of the Watch and Ward staff in the Legislative Assembly on Saturday to evict the DMK MLAs, has triggered controversy.

“This is unprecedented. There is no provision to change the prescribed uniform of an IPS officer while on duty. Only officers engaged in intelligence related duties or other special operations approved by the competent authority can be in plain clothes,” a retired Inspector General (IG) of Police, on condition of anonymity, said.

“Going by the rule book, it is apparent that the IPS officers violated the service rules by wearing the white uniform on Saturday,” the retired IPS officer said.

Trouble began when the Assembly Secretary A M P Jamaludeen authorised the senior police officers to enter the Assembly in Watch and Ward uniform.

In his letter to the Commissioner of Police, Chennai, Jamaludeen, said, “The Speaker has announced adjournment of the House at 1:28 pm after ordering eviction of DMK members. The DMK members refused to leave the House and sat inside the chamber even after the House is adjourned. As directed by the Hon’ble Speaker, the following senior officers are permitted to enter the Assembly premises in Watch and Ward uniform to evict the DMK members.”

Jamaludeen had also named nine police officers, including four senior IPS officers – Additional Commissioner of Police (North) C Sridhar, Joint Commissioners of Police Santosh Kumar and Joshi Nirmal Kumar and Deputy Commissioner of Police R Sudhakar – to enter the Assembly in Watch and Ward uniform.

More than the picture of Chief Minister Palaniswami who won the vote of confidence amidst the ruckus in the Assembly, the picture of the IPS officers in white uniform has been doing the rounds on social media since Saturday.

However, when contacted for his views, Deputy Commissioner of Police Sudhakar declined to comment on the issue. He had in a post on Facebook stated that the instructions were from the speaker and they were only doing their duty.

This has now triggered a debate as to whether the speaker had violated the constitutional norms by getting the officers to wear the Ward and Watch uniform of the Marshals to evict the unruly opposition.