New Delhi: Just hours before his retirement on May 31, former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay was served show cause notice by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) under Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and sought explanation in writing within three days, a source in the Home Ministry said.
Under the DM Act 2005, there has been a provision of imprisonment of up to two years or a fine or both in case of ‘punishment for obstruction’ for refusal to comply with a direction given by the Central government.
The letter, citing the event in which Mr Bandopadhyay reached to the review meeting on Cyclone Yaas on May 28 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, late and left with State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee without attending the meeting, said “Now therefore, Shri Alapan Bandopadhyay, Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal is hereby called upon to explain in writing to this Ministry within a period of 3 (three) days, as to why action should not be taken against him under Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 for the aforesaid violation.
The notice was served barely a couple of hours before Mr Bandopadhyay, refusing the three months extension, opted for retirement on May 31 despite the fact that his extension of service was sanctioned by the both State and Central government.
On May 31 too, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) also shot off a letter asking him to comply with its May 28 order to report to the Central government’s office in Delhi.
Earlier too, under this provision of the DM Act, a show cause notice was issued against three IAS officers and one Andaman and Nicobar Islands Service officers posted with Delhi Government for ‘dereliction of duty’ on March 30 last year when thousands of migrants gathered at Anand Vihar railway station in Delhi despite nationwide lockdown, to go back to their native places.(UNI)
