Manoj Pant takes over as Bengal Chief Secretary

Pant, a 1991-batch IAS officer, earlier held the additional charge of the Department of Planning and Statistics.

Dr Manoj Pant IAS taking charge of CS from B P Gopalika IAS. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

Pant, a 1991-batch IAS officer, has taken over from Bhagwati Prasad Gopalika, who retired on Saturday. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

The West Bengal government on Saturday appointed senior bureaucrat Manoj Pant as chief secretary, an official said. The order came less than 24 hours after Pant, who was the finance secretary, was shifted to the Irrigation and Waterways Department.

Pant, a 1991-batch IAS officer, has taken over from Bhagwati Prasad Gopalika, who retired on Saturday. Gopalika, a 1989-batch IAS officer who was scheduled to retire on May 31, but the Centre granted him a three-month extension until August 31, after a request by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He was the Home Secretary of the state before taking over as the chief secretary on December 31, 2023, replacing H K Dwivedi.

According to an order issued on Friday night, Additional Chief Secretary Prabhat Kumar Mishra, a 1993-batch IAS officer, will replace Pant in the Finance Department with additional charge of the Department of Planning and Statistics. Mishra was earlier looking after irrigation and waterways with additional charge of the Water Resources Investigation and Development Department and Project Director, AIDM.

Additional Chief Secretary Roshni Sen, a 1993-batch officer, is the new ACS of the Water Resources Investigation and Development Department and Project Director ADMI, earlier looked after by Mishra.

Sen will continue to look after fisheries, aquaculture, aquatic resources and fishing harbour in the capacity of additional chief secretary and discharge responsibilities as the chairman and managing director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation.

— With PTI

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