In a dramatic turn of events, West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay has retired from service amid row with the Centre and will now serve as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Chief Advisor. "Since Alapan Bandyopadhyay has retired today on May 31 from his service, he is not going to join in Delhi," Mamata said. "I will not allow Alapan Banerjee to leave Nabanna. He is now the Chief Adviser to Chief Minister," she added.
This comes after the Centre issued a show-cause notice to Alapan Bandyopadhyay after he failed to report to the department of personnel, public grievances and pensions (DoPT) in New Delhi today (Monday). The Centre had asked the top bureaucrat to join tomorrow (Tuesday), said Banerjee. "We just got a letter from IAS cadre rules; GoI asks Alapan to join tomorrow. The purpose of extension of service is not served," said Mamata.
Earlier in the day, Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to withdraw the Centre's order recalling Alapan Bandyopadhyay, and said her government "is not releasing" the top bureaucrat. In a five-page letter, Banerjee urged the PM to reconsider the Centre's decision to recall the CS after giving him a three-month extension.
Banerjee said she was shocked by the Centre's decision and termed the order as "unilateral", which was issued "without any prior consultation" with the state government. "This so-called unilateral order is an unreasoned volte face and by your own admission, against the interests of the state and its people. I humbly request you to withdraw, recall, reconsider your decision and rescind the latest so-called order in larger public interest. I appeal to your conscience and good sense, on the behalf of the people of West Bengal," Banerjee said in her letter to PM Modi.
She also said, "The West Bengal government cannot release, and is not releasing its chief secretary at this critical hour, on the basis of our understanding that the earlier order of extension, issued after lawful consultation in accordance with applicable laws, remains operational and valid."
This came after the Centre, in a surprise move, had on May 28 night sought Bandyopadhyay's services and asked the state government to immediately release the top bureaucrat.
Bandyopadhyay, a 1987-batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, was scheduled to retire on Monday after completion of 60 years of age. However, he was granted a three-month extension following a nod from the Centre to work on COVID management.
Referring to the Centre's May 24 order granting extension to Bandyopadhyay for another three months after his scheduled retirement on Monday, Banerjee said, "I presume that the said order of granting extension as Chief Secretary, issued after mutual written consultations and on the basis of the reasons deliberated upon during such consultations in accordance with due process, stands and ought to stand in any case. In this regard, I seek your kind confirmation in public interest and in the larger interests of the people of the state of West Bengal in these difficult times." She also mentioned in her letter that the "all-India services and the laws, including the rules framed for it, have federal cooperation as the cornerstone of its legal architecture".
Banerjee said the aim of the all-India services has been to "protect and give greater cohesion to the federal foundations" of the Constitution. "With unilateral and non-consultative orders being issued, the federal system is gravely endangered and severely undermined. If a chief secretary of a state can be asked to be relieved like this how can the lower bureaucracy take, obey and implement orders in their letter or spirit from the chief minister, other ministers and officers. I presume and hope that you do not want to damage the federal amity... and destroy the morale of all the All India Service officers working in various states," Banerjee said.
Expressing her anguish in the entire episode of recalling Bandyopadhyay even after granting him a three-month extension, the Bengal CM questioned whether the decision has any connection with her and the chief secretary's meeting with the PM at Kalaikunda in Paschim Medinipur district on May 28.
"I really and sincerely hope that this latest order is not related to my meeting with you at Kalaikunda. If that be the reason, it would be sad, unfortunate and would amount to sacrificing public interest at the altar of misplaced priorities," she said.
In a communique to the state government, the Personnel Ministry on May 28 said the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the placement of the services of Bandyopadhyay with Government of India as per provisions of the Indian Administrative Service (cadre) Rules, 1954, "with immediate effect". It also directed Bandyopadhyay to report to the Department of Personnel and Training, North Block, New Delhi by 10 am on Monday.
The order came on a day when PM Modi visited Odisha and West Bengal to review the situation and damages caused by Cyclone Yaas.
Banerjee had a brief meeting with the prime minister at the Kalaikunda airbase where she handed over a memorandum on the post-cyclone situation. However, she was 30 minutes late to the review meeting. In her defence, the Chief Minister said she was not made aware of the meeting in time. The BJP leaders later accused her of cutting short the planned review meeting.
(With PTI inputs)
