Bengal: Nandini Chakravorty made home secretary as BP Gopalika gets promoted
Telegraph | 1 January 2024
Nandini Chakravorty, a 1994-batch IAS officer, took over as Bengal home secretary on Sunday from the incumbent B.P. Gopalika, who was promoted to chief secretary with H.K. Dwivedi retiring.
The elevation of Chakravorty, principal secretary (tourism), to the second-most coveted post in the state administration came as a surprise to administrative as well as political circles, since she has superseded several senior officers.
Usually, in Bengal, one of the senior-most IAS officers from the rank of additional chief secretary is appointed home secretary.
“Nandini is considered a relatively junior officer, and is from the principal secretary rank. The last time a principal secretary was appointed home secretary was in 2017, when Atri Bhattacharya was elevated to the post,” a senior bureaucrat said.
The senior bureaucrat
said: “So, Nandini’s appointment is
a bit surprising, although there is no hard and fast rule that the second
senior-most IAS officer in the state has to be appointed home secretary.”
Sources
said Chakravorty’s appointment marks a tremendous comeback by the bureaucrat,
who was once appointed the state gazetteer, an insignificant posting considered
the worst possible for an IAS officer in the state.
The
geography postgraduate never had a smooth career. She was considered one of
chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s preferred civil servants after the Trinamul
Congress came to power in May 2011 and was appointed MD of the state industrial
development corporation in July 2011.
In
November 2012, she was elevated to secretary in the information and cultural
affairs department, deemed a very important department in the Trinamul era (as
Mamata is the minister-in-charge).
But
her career nosedived within months: she was sent to the state gazetteers department
as editor in February 2013. “The reason for that punishment posting remains
unknown. She again shot to the limelight when she was made secretary to the
governor in August 2022,” a bureaucrat said.
Chakravorty
made headlines when governor C.V. Ananda Bose relieved her of her
responsibilities at the Raj Bhavan in February 2023.
With
Raj Bhavan sources hinting she had been removed for “misleading the governor”,
Nabanna — engaged in a power struggle with Bose — brought her closer to the
higher rungs of the administration, sources in the civil service said.
“She
was given charge of tourism, an important department in this government’s
scheme of things. Now, her elevation as home secretary has stunned many in the
administration,” a source said.
Some
officials said the appointment of a considerably junior officer as home
secretary was inevitable since Rajeev Kumar, a 1989-batch IPS officer, has been
given charge as director-general of police.
While,
technically, the home secretary enjoys a higher status than the DGP, Kumar is
seen as close to Nabanna.
“It’s
clear that Rajeev Kumar will run the show in terms of policing in the state. If
an officer from the rank of additional chief secretary were made home
secretary, clashes between the DGP and the home secretary could happen,” a
bureaucrat said.
“But
appointing a junior officer from the rank of home secretary would minimise the
chances of conflict.”
Other
sources bore this out, saying Nabanna expected Chakravorty not to question any
measures taken by the DGP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
“This
is because she is well aware of what a punishment posting could mean,” a source
said. Chakravorty will continue to hold charge of the tourism department. She
will also function as principal secretary, parliamentary affairs.
Dwivedi
The
retired chief secretary has been appointed chief adviser (finance) to the chief
minister for three years. Former chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay has been
working as chief adviser to the chief minister since June 2021.