West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared that Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay has retired on May 31. She has not accepted the extension offered to him by the state government and appointed him as Chief Adviser to the West Bengal Chief Minister for a period of 3 years. This means that Bandyopadhyay, whose release the Centre had asked for, will not be joining the central committee.

“Since Alapan Bandyopadhyay has retired today on May 31 from his service, he is not going to join in Delhi,” Mamta Banerjee said in a statement. The West Bengal government on May 25 had issued an order, quoting the Centre’s approval to extend Bandyopadhyay’s services as Chief Secretary for three months before his due retirement on May 31.

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Earlier on May 31, Mamta wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that her government will not release Bandyopadhyay who has been asked to report to the Centre in what she called an “individual order”. Bandyopadhyay was asked to report to Delhi at 10 am but the CM said that he will stay and continue to manage her state’s COVID-19 crisis. “The state government did not agree to relieve Bandyopadhyay on May 31 as the purpose for which extension was given still continues,” she said.