Kolkata: A senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer has been withdrawn from the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata upon the request of the Governor, in what’s being referred to as the primary such instance of an officer’s elimination in latest reminiscence.
Nandini Chakravorty, principal secretary to Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, was shifted to the tourism division Wednesday.
Sources in Raj Bhavan instructed ThePrint the Governor had written to the Bengal authorities searching for a youthful officer in a transfer to revamp his workforce of officers.
The ADCs (Aides-de-Camp) to the Governor, each from the police power in addition to the Military, have just lately been modified and new officers appointed.
The method of Chakravorty’s elimination, nevertheless, hit a roadblock final week because the observe to alleviate her was addressed on to the bureaucrat, as a substitute of the state chief secretary as is the norm, and copies of the identical have been despatched to the Chief Minister’s Workplace in addition to the chief secretary.
Counting on the “technical glitch”, until Monday the State Secretariat (Nabanna) remained mum as information of the principal secretary’s elimination unfold.
Sources within the secretariat had instructed ThePrint Monday that “no choice” had been taken and Nandini Chakravorty was attending workplace.
On Tuesday, West Bengal chief secretary H.Okay. Dwivedi held a closed-door assembly with the Governor at Raj Bhavan over the progress of his request, amongst different discussions.
Nabanna then handed the order of Chakravorty’s elimination 24 hours later, permitting the Governor to have his method. A brand new bureaucrat is but to be formally appointed at Raj Bhavan to interchange Chakravorty.
Whereas the ruling Trinamool Congress has not formally commented on the event, Chakravorty’s elimination from the Raj Bhavan has been criticised by the CPI(M), whereas the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) has blamed “non cooperation” on the a part of bureaucrats for the Governor’s choice.
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‘It’s an insult’
Chakravorty’s exit from the Raj Bhavan comes at a time when West Bengal BJP leaders have been brazenly talking about Governor Ananda Bose’s good ties with the Mamata Banerjee authorities. The state’s earlier Governor, Jagdeep Dhankhar, was identified to be at odds with the state authorities on varied points.
In Kolkata’s Raj Bhavan, the BJP was seen skipping official features whereas the Trinamool Congress was in full attendance.
BJP state chief Sukanta Majumdar met Governor Bose final week and talked about the “rising corruption” within the state.
On 26 January, the chief of the opposition within the state meeting, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, called Chakravorty a “particular emissary of the state authorities” within the Raj Bhavan.
Referring to the ‘hatey khori’ (initiation into training) ceremony, throughout which the Governor started his formal coaching in Bengali language, Adhikari tweeted: “Ms Nandini Chakravorty (IAS), Principal Secretary to Governor, appearing as a ‘particular’ emissary of the state authorities latched on to this opportunity (hatte khori ceremony) to execute the hidden political agenda of the chief minister by artfully utilizing the workplace of the Governor.”
On Monday, when information broke about Chakravorty’s elimination, CM Mamata Banerjee, whereas talking contained in the Vidhan Sabha, quipped: “Is he (Suvendu Adhikari) the adviser to the Governor?”
Speaking about Chakravorty’s elimination, CPM chief Sujan Chakraborty alleged that the paperwork was getting used as a puppet by the ruling dispensation. “Be it on the Centre or the state, IAS and IPS (Indian Police Service) officers who’re extremely educated, are being misused by the heads. The Governor didn’t need the officer and the state allowed her to go,” he instructed ThePrint.
The Bengal BJP president, nevertheless, instructed a press convention Wednesday, “Sadly, in West Bengal, the bureaucrats lose their backbone and overlook their constitutional obligations. That’s why the Governor needed to change officers when there was no cooperation.”
Whereas the Trinamool Congress refused to talk on the difficulty formally, get together spokesperson Kunal Ghosh instructed ThePrint: “As a courtesy, the state authorities gave its nod for Nandini Chakravorty’s elimination, however certainly it’s an insult for a highly-qualified girl IAS officer if carried out on the behest of sad political leaders.”
He added that the get together wouldn’t situation any assertion on this growth and these have been his private views.
A protracted profession
Chakravorty, a 1994-batch IAS officer, was appointed the principal secretary to La. Ganesan, then appearing governor of West Bengal, in August 2022. Ananda Bose took oath in November final yr.
Ganesan had taken interim cost after former Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was elevated to the publish of Vice-President of India. The extra chief secretary to Dhankhar, IAS officer Sunil Gupta, joined the Vice-President’s Workplace as his secretary in New Delhi.
Earlier than taking cost on the Kolkata Raj Bhavan, Chakravorty was posted because the principal secretary within the division of non-conventional vitality.
A senior bureaucrat, Chakravorty has served in a number of places of work, together with as Managing Director of West Bengal Industrial Growth Company.
In 2011, when Banerjee took oath as Bengal CM for the primary time, Chakravorty was appointed within the division of knowledge and tradition.
This isn’t the primary time Chakravorty has been withdrawn from a publish. In 2015, she was eliminated as secretary of the Sunderbans affairs division, reportedly as a “fallout” of an alleged tussle with then minister Monturam Pakhira over the monitoring of tasks.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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