Nandini Chakraborty Appointed West Bengal Chief Secretary, First Bengali Woman To Hold The Post

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on 31 December 2025, appointed senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Nandini Chakraborty as the new Chief Secretary of the state. With this appointment,

Chakraborty becomes the first Bengali woman to hold the top bureaucratic post in West Bengal. She succeeds Manoj Pant, who has been reassigned as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister.

Nandini Chakraborty, a 1994-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, has held several key administrative positions over the course of her career spanning more than three decades. Her elevation to the post of Chief Secretary has drawn attention within bureaucratic circles, as she has superseded several officers senior to her in service. Such supersession has become a point of discussion among serving and retired bureaucrats, though no official comment has been made by the state government on the matter.

Outgoing Chief Secretary Manoj Pant has now taken charge as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, a position that allows him to continue working closely with the state’s political leadership. Meanwhile, senior IAS officer Jagadish Prasad Meena has been appointed the new Home Secretary of West Bengal. Meena’s appointment has also involved the supersession of senior officers, adding to ongoing discussions within administrative circles about the recent bureaucratic reshuffles.

During her career, Chakraborty has served in several important roles within the West Bengal administration. She has held positions such as Home Secretary, Tourism Secretary, and Principal Secretary to the Governor. Her administrative experience spans multiple departments and sectors, including industry, culture, tourism, and governance. She has also served in the Ministry of Personnel at the Centre and has earlier worked as a District Magistrate, giving her exposure to both state-level policymaking and grassroots administration.

In November 2022, when CV Ananda Bose assumed charge as Governor of West Bengal, Chakraborty was appointed as the Governor’s Principal Secretary. However, following objections raised by the Governor, she was later removed from that position and transferred to the state’s Tourism Department. Subsequently, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assigned her responsibility for the state’s hill areas, which are often described by the administration as “sensitive” due to political and law-and-order considerations.

Chakraborty had earlier handled the Information and Cultural Affairs Department in 2011. After that tenure, she did not hold any prominently visible portfolio for an extended period, according to administrative records. Her appointment as Chief Secretary, therefore, marks a significant return to the highest level of decision-making within the state bureaucracy.

The timing of the appointment has also been noted by observers, as West Bengal is heading into an election cycle. Some administrative analysts have pointed out that appointing a Bengali woman as Chief Secretary at this juncture carries political and administrative significance, though the state government has not officially commented on the reasoning behind the decision.

The latest bureaucratic reshuffle underscores the Chief Minister’s continued reliance on trusted senior officers as the state prepares for key political and administrative challenges in the coming months.