In a move to ensure a transparent and corruption-free administration, the West Bengal government has assigned a group of West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) officers as “executive assistants” to ministers in the new cabinet under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. These officers were chosen based on their reputation for providing clean, transparent, and politically unbiased services. The State Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department has issued a notification announcing these appointments and instructed the officers to take up their new roles promptly.
Biswanath Chowdhury, a WBCS officer from the 2013 batch, has been designated as the executive assistant to Panchayat Affairs and Rural Development Minister Dilip Ghosh. Currently serving as the deputy secretary to the Hooghly Zilla Parishad, Chowdhury brings his experience to this new role. Similarly, Krishna Chandra Munda, a 2016-batch WBCS officer, has been appointed as the executive assistant to Backward Classes Development Minister Khudiram Tudu. Munda, who is currently working as the deputy magistrate-cum-deputy collector in Bankura district, will now support the minister in his duties.
Kaushik Kumar Maiti, another 2016-batch officer, has been named the executive assistant to Food & Supplies and Cooperation Minister Ashok Kirtaniya. Maiti, who is presently the district planning officer of South 24 Parganas, will bring his expertise to this new role. A senior official at Nabanna mentioned that these officers were carefully selected based on their service records, emphasizing qualities such as integrity, transparency, and impartiality in their administrative roles.
With the BJP forming its first government in West Bengal, significant changes have been introduced in the state’s bureaucratic setup. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has already started restructuring both the Chief Minister’s Office and the state secretariat, implementing various transfers and administrative changes in recent weeks. The government has also concluded the extended tenure of 243 bureaucrats above 60 years old who continued in service during the previous administration led by Mamata Banerjee. Additionally, two IAS officers have been recently appointed to the Chief Minister’s Office.
