West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay opts to retire from IAS, appointed as Chief Adviser to CM

In a dramatic development, West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay opted to retire from the IAS today instead of reporting to the Centre and was appointed as Chief Adviser to the West Bengal government for three years.

“I will not allow Alapan Bandyopadhyay to leave Nabanna. He is now the Chief Adviser to Chief Minister," said West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee at a press conference."Our chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay retired today; he will continue as chief advisor to CM for next three years," Mamata Banerjee further said.

The Centre has asked him to join North Block on Tuesday but it cannot force an officer to join it without the permission of the state administration, Banerjee added, as per a report by Live Mint.

Mamata Banerjee had written a five-page letter to PM Modi that she would not allow Bandyopadhyay's transfer to Delhi, as ordered by the Centre. The Centre, she said, responded by insisting that he has to report to Delhi.

"I request you to withdraw, recall, reconsider your decision and rescind the latest so-called order in larger public interest. The Government of West 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. The latest order is also clearly in violation of applicable laws and against public interest: it is in any case ab initio void," stated the letter written by Mamata Banerjee to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today.

Mamata Banerjee said that Centre replied to her letter and asked Alapan Bandyopadhyay to join North Block tomorrow.

"This is vendetta. I have never seen such cruel behavior. Just because they want to attack the Chief Minister, they attack the Chief Secretary. You have added insult to injury. There is no consultation. Why? Because you lost? Because you don't like Mamata Banerjee. 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. For COVID and for Cyclone Yaas, he must continue his service to the poor, the state, the country, the affected people..." the Chief Minister said, as per a report by NDTV.

She accused PM Modi of treating bureaucrats like bonded labourers. "If a bureaucrat is insulted after he has dedicated his life to his work, what message is the government and PM sending out? There are many Bengali cadre officers at the Centre. Can I recall them without consultation, Mr Prime Minister? Mr Busy Prime Minister? Mr Mann-ki-baat Prime Minister?" she said, as per NDTV.

A combative Chief Minister used labels like "Adolf Hitler and Stalin" and declared: "You want to scare the bureaucracy. We are not scared. I am not scared of you. Those who are afraid crumble. We fight and we win," she said, as per the report.

Bandyopadhyay, who had recently been granted a three-month extension in Bengal, was asked to report to the Centre in an order issued hours after Mamata Banerjee skipped a Cyclone Yaas review meeting with PM Modi on Friday.

Meanwhile, a show-cause notice is being served to Alapan Bandyopadhyay for failing to report to the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT), according to government sources, news agency ANI reported.

Former IAS officer E A S Sarma said, technically speaking, the IAS (Cadre) Rules no doubt empower the Centre to recall IAS officers from the state but such a recall should be based on justifiable grounds and for upholding the public interest, as per a PTI report.

"Even while taking such a decision, the Centre is required to hold prior consultation with the State and, in the event of disagreement, the Centre should cite the extraordinary circumstances that justify such a recall," he said.

From the news reports available, it appears that the Centre has taken the decision in a unilateral and summary manner, Sarma said.

"If it is so, the order issued by the Centre will not stand the test of legality," he said in a letter to the prime minister.

Even otherwise, the relationship between the Centre and the States should be one of cooperation, not confrontation, he said.

"The Centre should not fall prey to personal egos and narrow considerations and compromise the spirit of cooperative federalism. The framers of the Indian Constitution never imagined that such situations would ever arise," said Sarma, who served as Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs in the Finance Ministry. Sarma, a 1965-batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, took voluntary retirement from the service.