West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on May 31 that the state’s Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay was retiring.
The 1987-batch IAS officer, Banerjee said, had not accepted the extension offered to him by the state government and was thus appointed as advisor to the Chief Minister of West Bengal for a period of three years.
This would mean that Bandyopadhyay will not be joining under central deputation.
The Centre had sought Bandyopadhyay’s release from the Bengal government. Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that her government cannot release Bandyopadhyay who had been asked to report to the Centre in what she called a “unilateral order”.
On May 28, the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) under the Ministry of Personnel had issued an order recalling Bandyopadhyay to the Centre and requested the Bengal government to relieve him immediate effect and directed him to report by 10.00 am on May 31.
But the chief minister said that Bandyopadhyay will stay and continue to manage the state's COVID-19 crisis.
DoPT’s order came hours after a row erupted over Banerjee skipping the relief meeting with PM Modi leading to a fresh flashpoint between the central and the state government. Banerjee had said that she met the prime minister and handed over the documents and left as she had to attend another relief meeting.
What happens next?
Now, the Centre is expected to take disciplinary action against Bandyopadhyay for failing to report to the DoPT on May 31.
The DoPT comes under the Personnel and Public Grievances Ministry, which is under the direct charge of PM Modi. The authority has the power to issue a show-cause notice to the officer seeking his explanation. What happens next would be determined by the officer's response.
The All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, have provision for a penalty that can be imposed on the officer. The penalty ranges from censure, withholding of promotion, withholding of increments of pay, to compulsory retirement and removal from service, among others.