Centre is planning to proceed criminally against former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay

Former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay (Image: Twitter/@ANI)

Centre is planning to proceed criminally against former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay under the Disaster Management Act for not attending the Prime Minister’s review meeting in Kalaikunda last week and for not giving a presentation on the aftermath of Cyclone Yaas before the PM.

The West Bengal government is, however, expected to spring to his defence if case of any such legal proceedings.

Bandopadhyay, who retired on May 31, has been served a notice by Centre to reply within three days on why he should not be proceeded against under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act which come with a jail term of up to one year and a fine, if convicted.

The notice has been served to him under Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act which specifies that “whoever without reasonable cause refused to comply with any direction given by or on behalf of the Central government or the state government or the National Executive Committee or the State Executive committee, shall on conviction be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and a fine or with both.”

If it is determined that the action of the said person through obstruction or refusal to comply with directions “results in loss of lives or imminent danger”, the conviction can be punishable with a term extending up to two years, a more stricter offence.

Officials in the West Bengal government, however, told News18 that such an action was not expected to stand the scrutiny of law and will be fought legally in the courts if it proceeds to that stage.

“The Chief Secretary reports to the Chief Minister and he arrived at the review meeting of the PM along with the CM and left the meeting along with the CM as well. He is working as per the directions of the CM who was on a spree of constant review meetings and he was supposed to accompany her.

"There is hence ‘reasonable cause’ for the Chief Secretary’s actions as specified through a caveat under the Disaster Management Act. CM has already said that she left the meeting after expressly taking permission of the Prime Minister. Also, the Chief Secretary was busy in cyclone relief work rather than obstructing such work,” a senior functionary in the West Bengal government said.

The official said the state government was “fully behind Bandopadhyay”.

Under Section 56 of the Disaster Management Act, an government officer has to prove he “obtained the express written permission of his official superior or has other lawful excuse” for withdrawing from a duty under the Act.

However, central government officials said no such permission was granted by the PM to the Chief Minister to leave the meeting, and so the Chief Secretary was in violation of Disaster Management Act.

“The Chief Secretary is an All India Services Officer and he chose to ignore his constitutional duties, as a result of which no presentation was given to PM and no officer of West Bengal government attended the PM’s review meeting. It was the Chief Secretary’s duty to ensure that the review meeting takes place as scheduled. All India officers are not expected to be part of politics,” officials in the Central government said.

Any move to proceed criminally against Bandopadhyay may trigger another tussle between the Centre and the state government after he effectively escaped any disciplinary action upon choosing to take retirement on May 31.