Major bureaucratic reshuffle in Bengal ahead of SIR, 17 IAS officers transferred

Kolkata, Oct 27 (IANS) Ahead of the forthcoming Special Intensive Revision (SIR) proposed by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the West Bengal government, on Monday, announced a major bureaucratic reshuffle in the state by transferring as many as 17 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers at one go.

The 17 bureaucrats whose transfers have been announced include 10 District Magistrates. The districts that will have new DMs, who will also act as District Election Officers, are North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Cooch Behar, Murshidabad, Purulia, Darjeeling, Malda, Birbhum, Jhargram, and East Midnapore.

The Commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has also been changed. The transfer of 17 IAS officers, especially 10 DMs at one go, was unheard of at least in the recent past, said a senior bureaucrat of the state government.

Incidentally, the massive bureaucratic reshuffle was announced by the state Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department in the afternoon, just a couple of hours before the press conference by the Chief Election Commissioner at New Delhi, where the dates for SIR for 2026 four poll-bound states, including West Bengal, and one poll-bound union territory, are expected to be announced.

Bureaucratic circles feel that once the SIR dates are announced, there could be some technical difficulties for the transfer of the bureaucrats, especially the DMs, since the latter also act as the District Election Officers.

The ECI has already made it clear that once the revision exercise starts, the state government will not be able to transfer electoral officers.

Officially, the state government is, however, describing the transfer as routine.

The new DMs are expected to run the administrative show in the respective districts during the Assembly elections in West Bengal scheduled next year, unless the ECI decides to transfer some of them before the elections.

As per the rule, once the election dates are announced, the state administration comes under the authority of the ECI, which can decide to transfer any state government officer or staff till the time the model code of conduct is in force.

--IANS

src/dpb