West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced that Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay has retired on May 31.
The 1987-batch IAS officer, she said, has not accepted the extension offered to him by the state government and has thus been appointed as adviser to the West Bengal Chief Minister for a period of three years.
This effectively means that Bandyopadhyay, whose release the Centre had asked for, will not be joining under central deputation.
"Since Alapan Bandyopadhyay has retired today on May 31 from his service, he is not going to join in Delhi," Banerjee was quoted as saying by news agency ANI
The West Bengal government had on May 25, issued an order, citing the Centre’s approval dated May 24 to extend Bandyopadhyay’s services as Chief Secretary for three months beyond his due retirement on May 31
"I will not allow Alapan Banerjee to leave Nabanna. He is now the Chief Adviser to Chief Minister," Banerjee said.
READ: Mamata Vs Centre row over West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay: All you need to know
Earlier on May 31, Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that her government cannot release Bandyopadhyay who has been asked to report to the Centre in what she called a "unilateral order".
Bandyopadhyay was asked to report to Delhi at 10 am but the CM said that he will stay and continue to manage her state's COVID-19 crisis.
“The state government did not agree to relieve (Bandyopadhyay) him on May 31 as the purpose for which extension was given still persists. I wrote a letter to the PM as to why he cannot be relieved. Our priority is COVID-19 and Cyclone,” she said.
Also, read: Bengal Showdowns to continue due to Mamata-Adhikari equations
On May 28, the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) under Ministry of Personnel issued an order recalling Bandyopadhyay, 1987-batch IAS officer, to the Centre and requested West Bengal government to relieve Bandyopadhyay with immediate effect and directed him to report by 10 am on May 31.
The order came hours after a row erupted over Banerjee skipping the relief meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28 leading to a fresh flashpoint between the Centre and the Mamata Banerjee-led state government. Banerjee had claimed that she met the PM and handed over the documents and left as she had to attend another relief meeting.
Banerjee announced that Harikrishna Dwivedi will be the next West Bengal Chief Secretary.
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