EC removes Bengal Chief and Home Secys; Reshuffles top police posts

Kolkata: Hours after the announcement of the election schedule, the Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered a sweeping administrative reshuffle in West Bengal, directing the immediate removal of the state’s Chief Secretary and Home Secretary and replacing the Director General of Police (DGP), the Commissioner of Kolkata Police and several other senior officers.

The Commission said the two IAS officers removed from the top administrative posts should not be assigned any election-related duty till the completion of the poll process. The move is aimed at ensuring administrative neutrality and smooth conduct of the elections.

The state government was asked to appoint new officers to the key administrative posts and directed that the changes be implemented immediately. The state administration was instructed to submit a compliance report confirming the joining of the newly appointed officers by 3 pm on March 16.

The IAS officer Dushyant Nariala has been asked to take charge as the new Chief Secretary of West Bengal. Nariala, a 1993-batch IAS officer, was serving as the Additional Chief Secretary of the North Bengal Development Department. He has earlier handled important departments, including Disaster Management and Civil Defence.

IAS officer Sanghamitra Ghosh, a 1997-batch officer, has been appointed as the Principal Secretary of the Home and Hill Affairs Department. She had been serving as Principal Secretary of the Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Department.

In a parallel move, the Commission ordered a major reshuffle in the state police administration.

Peeyush Pandey has been removed from the post of Director General of Police and senior IPS officer Siddh Nath Gupta, a 1992-batch officer, has been appointed as the new DGP.

The Commission also replaced the Commissioner of Kolkata Police, Supratim Sarkar, and reinstated Ajay Nanda, a 1996-batch IPS officer, in his place.

Nanda has previously served as Commissioner of the Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate and held several assignments in Kolkata Police. He has also played a key role in anti-Maoist operations and was the first Inspector General of the West Bengal Special Task Force (STF).

The poll body also replaced ADG (Law and Order) Vineet Goyal with Ajay Mukund Ranade, a 1995-batch IPS officer, who has been appointed as ADG and IGP (Law and Order).

Natarajan Ramesh Babu, a 1991-batch IPS officer, has been appointed Director General of Correctional Services.

The Commission said the decision was taken after reviewing the administrative preparedness of the state ahead of the Assembly elections. It also directed that officers transferred out should not be posted in any election-related assignments until the completion of the polls.

The state Home department also issued a notification announcing fresh postings for the officers who were moved from their earlier positions. Peeyush Pandey has been appointed Director Security in the rank of Director General, while Supratim Sarkar has been assigned the charge of ADG, CID. Vineet Goyal has been posted as Director General of the Intelligence Branch of the state police.

Laxmi Narayan Meena, who was serving as ADG, CID, has been given the charge of ADG, Correctional Services. Manoj Verma, who was Director Security, has been posted as Additional Director, Security in the rank of ADG.Immediately after the announcement of the elections, the Model Code of Conduct came into force across the state, giving the Commission powers to order transfers of bureaucrats, police officers and other officials during the election period.

Meanwhile, it emerged that the state secretariat Nabanna had issued a notification regarding the transfer of 30 WBCS (Executive) officers. Though the notification was made public on Monday, it stated that the order had been issued earlier on March 13.

According to the notification issued by the WBCS Cell of the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department, the reshuffle includes appointments to the posts of Additional District Magistrates (ADMs) in several districts.

Among those transferred, Ananta Chandra Sarkar, who was serving in the Tourism Department, has been appointed ADM of North Dinajpur. Pushpak Roy, Assistant Commissioner of the Malda Division, has also been posted as ADM in the same district.

Bishnubrata Bhattacharya from the IT and Electronics Department has been appointed ADM of Murshidabad, while Sudipta Das, Joint Secretary of the Panchayats and Rural Development Department, has been given the responsibility of ADM of Nadia district.

Shubhalakshmi Basu, Joint Secretary in the Tribal Development Department, and Brijit Suchita Kujur, Joint Secretary in the Health and Family Welfare Department, have both been posted as ADM of North 24-Parganas.

Several officers, including Deepanjan De, Koyalee Das and Pushpen Chatterjee, have also been brought into different state government departments as Senior Deputy Secretaries or Joint Secretaries.

Sources in the state administration said that the process of administrative reorganisation had been underway even before the announcement of the elections, and the notification was part of that process.