West Bengal has already got its first woman chief minister. Now the state is all set to receive its first woman chief secretary. A woman IAS officer is likely to be the next chief secretary of the state.
If things go according to plan then Jaya Das Gupta, a 1978-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, will be elevated to the chief secretary’s post after the incumbent chief secretary Samar Ghosh retires on September 30, 2012 after completion of his six months extension. Ms Das Gupta is now an additional chief secretary and looks after the state development and planning department.
The selection of the chief secretary is entirely the discretion of the chief minister. It has been learnt that Ms Banerjee shortlisted Ms Das Gupta’s name for the coveted post in the state administration.
“The chief minister doesn’t want to deprive anyone of his or her legitimate right. Jaya Das Gupta is a very senior officer and third senior-most among nine additional chief secretaries in the state,” a highly-placed source in the Writers’ Buildings informed.
The state administration now has nine additional chief secretaries, including Anup Kumar Chanda, Asit Baran Chakraborty, Jaya Das Gupta, Dipankar Mukhopadhyay, Nihar Ranjan Banerjee, Tuk Tuk Kumar, Anil Kumar Agarwal, K. Sathiavasan and Subesh Kumar Das. Among these nine officers, any one could be elevated to the chief secretary’s post.
“Though, Mr Chanda of 1976-batch and Mr Chakraborty of 1977-batch are senior to Ms Das Gupta, she is closer to the chief minister than the two. Hence, she is an automatic choice in the given situation. However, in terms of efficiency, Subesh Kumar Das is the best among the nine additional chief secretaries.