New Delhi: The Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay is reported to be still in Kolkata despite the Central government's order asking him to report to the Department of Personnel and Training in Delhi.
The Centre has issued a notification recalling him after the alleged incident where the Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was accused of keeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi to wait for 30 minutes and refused to hold a meeting with him when he reached Kolkata to assess the impact of Cyclone Yaas.
Bandyopadhyay has been ordered to report to Delhi today after the incident. Reports suggested that the state government has not yet relieved the top bureaucrat from his duties and he would be participating in a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Banerjee.
The Chief Minister and her top bureaucrats were to make a presentation, but she left handing over a report and a 15-minute interaction at the airbase in West Midnapore where his flight landed.
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and the Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari were present at the time to hold a meeting with the when Prime Minister Modi.
Chief Minister Banerjee and her party criticised the Centre's recalling Bandyopadhyay terming the action as unconstitutional and illegal and urged to withdraw the order.
This is not the first time the centre has recalled top bureaucrats from states to Delhi. Just before the election in Bengal this year, three Indian Police Service (IPS) officers were recalled.
Bandyopadhyay, a 1987-batch IAS officer from the Bengal cadre, was to retire May 31 but was granted a three-month extension by the Centre to work on Covid management in the state.