Now, as per the memorandum, the Chief Minister is also the accepting authority for Land Reform Officers, District Magistrates of WBCS cadre, Additional District Magistrates and Additional Executive Officers of Zila Parishads.
The Mamata Banerjee government has revised the format of the annual confidential report (ACR) of West Bengal Civil Service executive officers to bring officials such as Additional District Magistrates, Block Development Officers (BDOs) and Sub-Divisional Officers (SDOs) under the direct control of the Chief Minister.
This change in the appraisal system has drawn criticism from the Opposition, which has accused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of attempting to control administrative officials in the run-up to next year’s Assembly elections. However, the government explained that the move was designed to allow Banerjee more control because of corruption at the grassroots.
The format change was announced in a memorandum published by the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department, or PAR, on Friday. The appraisal system is three-tiered, with each official overseen by a reporting officer. The report then goes to a reviewing officer, and then to an accepting authority.
Earlier, the accepting authority of BDOs was the Divisional Commissioner. The accepting authority for SDOs was the PAR Department.
Now, as per the memorandum, the Chief Minister is also the accepting authority for Land Reform Officers, District Magistrates of WBCS cadre, Additional District Magistrates and Additional Executive Officers of Zila Parishads.
Explaining why the decision was taken, a senior state secretariat officer said, “In post-Amphan and Covid-19 situation, the Chief Minister realised that huge corruption is occurring in the grassroots-level in districts, which is controlled by BDOs and SDOs. So, to get control of that level, the Chief Minister took direct control of the ACR.”
A former IAS officer said the accepting authority earlier was a non-political person. “But, when Mamata Banerjee came to power, she changed the format, and in case of IAS [officers], including District Magistrates, the accepting authority was the Chief Minister. Now, BDOs and SDOs have also been brought under the purview of the Chief Minister. In general, it is healthy that the appraisal of the concerned officer should be under purview of non-political persons. So, this change may create many consequences which will not be healthy for the organisation.”
Opposition parties such as the CPM and the BJP accused the government of politicising the system.
“The Chief Minister is not doing her job, So now, before elections, she is trying to create a scary environment at the administrative level,” said CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty.
BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said the government’s move was unfortunate. “Previously, this government brought ACR of DMs and SPs under the direct control of the Chief Minister. It is very unfortunate that now the government has done the same thing for BDOs and SDOs. This is nothing but an attempt to politicise the administrative system.”
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