Tuesday, 01 June 2021 | Saugar Sengupta | Kolkata
Didi urges Centre to withdraw order to recall Chief Secy
In a rebuff to the Centre, Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay on Monday retired from his services and was promptly made the Chief Adviser to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, hours after she wrote to the Centre asking it to withdraw its order transferring Bandopadhyay to Delhi.
Speaking to the media, the Chief Minister said she had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi “as it was my duty to respond to their earlier letter seeking release of the Chief Secretary.”
In the five-page letter to the Central Government, she wrote, “The Government of Bengal 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.”
Bandopadhyay, a 1987 batch IAS officer, whose service career was to end on May 31 was a few days ago allowed an extension of three months by the Centre at the request of the State Government (considering his indispensability in handling the pandemic situation).
He was, however, recalled by New Delhi as an apparent measure of retribution for failing to act to the protocol at Kailaikunda airport during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit there. The Prime Minister was on an aerial trip of coastal areas of Odisha and Bengal hit by cyclone Yaas.
Modi was to join a prescheduled meeting with the Chief Minister, who however, met him briefly and came out along with her Chief Secretary leaving no senior bureaucrat to make a digital presentation of the cyclonic aftermath as was demanded by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Later Banerjee said that she came out of the meeting because she had prescheduled trips to make to cyclone-hit areas. She also said that though the meeting was to happen between the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister, she found BJP leaders like Bengal Opposition Leader present at the meeting hall.
Mentioning that the Centre’s order to recall Bandopadhyay was “unilateral” Banerjee said that the top officer had been transferred “without prior consultation with the State Government” which was “not the tradition.”
Expressing “shock” and Banerjee said that the so-called “unilateral order is an unreasoned volte-face and by your own admission, against the interests of the state” and its people.
She said, “I am shocked to receive this letter. We had written to them saying that they cannot take unilateral decision. Chief Secretary is the senior most bureaucrat in a government. It is shameful and never happened in the history.”
Attacking the Prime Minister for what she called “heartless attitude” Banerjee said, “this is clearly a vendetta. I have never seen such cruel behavior. Just because they want to attack the Chief Minister, they attack the Chief Secretary.”
Saying that she had never seen, “such a heartless Prime Minister and Home Minister who are harassing bureaucrats while trying to attack me,” she said and asked why bureaucrats should be treated like “bonded labourers”, adding “if officers are insulted after they dedicated their life to the services of the nation… what message is the government and PM sending out?”
Asking why the State Government was not consulted before ordering the transfer of the top officer Banerjee said “there is no consultation. But Why? Because you lost (in the elections)… Because you don’t like Mamata Banerjee.”
Dwelling on the technicalities of things she said “the Centre may not be aware that he has superannuated and his services are not available for the Centre. I have decided we need his service for the Covid pandemic… Cyclone Yaas, he must continue his service to the poor, the state, the country, the affected people…”
Meanwhile, even as HK Dwivedi took over as the next Chief Secretary of Bengal, retired IAS circle said that there was nothing much that the
Centre could do to Bandopadhyay for his alleged defiance of its order because “he could not have joined his new posting without getting release order from the State Government… so he cannot be made liable.”
