Uncertainty prevails over whether state chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay, who has been recalled by the Central government, will report at the department of personnel and training, North Block, in New Delhi at 10 am tomorrow or not. Sources at Nabanna said that the state government has not released Mr Bandopadhyay till this evening while the Centre has not withdrawn their recall order as appealed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday.

Mr Bandopadhyay along with his wife visited the state secretariat this evening. He is scheduled to attend a meeting with principal secretaries of all departments at Nabanna tomorrow morning to take stock of the cyclone relief and restructuring work and a review meeting that will be chaired by Miss Banerjee at 3 p.m. Miss Banerjee had said yesterday that the central government has filed a caveat in court and if need be then they too will move the court against the recall order which was issued without taking consent of the state government or Mr Bandopadhyay.

However, neither the state government nor Mr Bandopadhyay responded on the matter till now. Yesterday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee held a Press conference and said it’s an act of political vendetta by the Central government to summon the chief secretary on what was slated to be the day of his retirement to Delhi. She said on 24 May, the cabinet secretary already sent letter approving the extension for of Alapan Bandopadhyay as state chief secretary for three months as requested by the state government.

The chief secretary is heading the task forces set up to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and the effects of cyclone Yaas. Former IAS and IPS officers like Jawahar Sarkar, Prasad Roy, and Ardhendu Sen condemned the Centre’s order recalling Alapan Bandopadhyay. While Mr Sarkar  described it as unconstitutional, Mr Roy and Mr Sen said in view of the pandemic and the cyclone calamity, the chief secretary was given extension as many task forces were being headed by him.

So it’s sheer vendetta politics that he was recalled on the last day of his service. In December, after BJP’s national president JP Nadda’s car was stoned at Shirakol in Diamond Harbour, the chief secretary, DGP and SP and ASP (South 24-Parganas) were summoned by the Centre. But the chief minister Mamata Banerjee strongly opposed the move.

On 17 December, Mamata Banerjee wrote “GOI’s order on Central deputation for the three serving IPS officers of West Bengal despite the state’s objection is a colourable exercise of power and blatant misuse of emergency provision of IPS Cadre Rule 1954. This act is nothing but a deliberate attempt to encroach upon state’s jurisdiction and demoralize the serving officers in WB. This move, particularly before the elections is against the basic tenets of the federal structure. It’s unconstitutional and completely unacceptable! We wouldn’t allow this brazen attempt by the Centre to control the State machinery by proxy! West Bengal is not going to cow-down in front of expansionist and undemocratic forces.”

Former IAS officer G Balachandran  told The Statesman:”What is even more amusing is that there is no mention of the concurrence of GOI to the officer’s extension of service. Therefore, the state is fully within its rights to refuse to relieve the officer. This is not the first time this has happened. Identical orders of three IPS officers in North Bengal were not complied with by the state government last year. Three or four years ago, the Tamil Nadu government had refused to relive their DGP in identical circumstances.”

Mr Sarkar, a former secretary to the Government of India, also pointed out that it is difficult for the Centre to unilaterally transfer an IAS or IPS officer, who is not under its control but that of another government within the federation. “The state may well send a politely drafted reply to the order pointing out the All-India Service rules which govern such transfers,” he said, referring to the requirement for concurrence from the state concerned for the deputation of an officer in its rolls to the Centre or another state.

Serampore MP Kalyan Banerjee in Uttarpara on Sunday lashed out at the Central government for recalling chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay even after approving his extension in his post and called it illegal and vindictive. Mr Banerjee said: “This decision of the Modi-led government is illegal and vindictive. Alapan Bandopadhyay is of the West Bengal cadre. The central government is the appointing authority under the relevant act and rules. Yet without the consent of the state government the extension period of the state chief secretary cannot be scrapped off and he cannot be summoned by the central government when the state government is fighting the Covid pandamic and huge destruction caused by the Yaascyclone.”