Fresh Raj Bhavan-Nabanna tussle over appointment of Governor’s ADC

Kolkata, Sep 6: A fresh tussle between the West Bengal state secretariat Nabanna and the office of the Raj Bhavan has surfaced, and this time it is over the appointment of the new Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the Governor. Sources said that the office of the Governor has taken a strong objection to the state government’s decision to announce the name of an additional superintendent ranking police officer Santi Das as the new ADC to Governor C.V. Ananda Bose.

Raj Bhavan sources said that the state secretariat while announcing the name of Das as the ADC to the Governor has not followed the protocol of forwarding three names to the office of the Governor and waiting for the final clearance from the latter to clear one of the three names. Sources added that the office of the Governor has already sent a communique to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on this count and advised the latter to follow the protocol of forwarding three names.

As per protocol, the Governor is supposed to have two ADCs, one from the defence forces and the other from the police forces. A Major ranking officer of the Indian Army has already been serving as the Governor’s ADC for quite some time. However, recently the state government transferred the erstwhile second ADC Manish Joshi and nominated Das in his place. However, the Governor’s House has objected to her name on the grounds that her name was announced without following the protocol related to the ADC appointment.

Already a cold war is going on between the Raj Bhavan and the state secretariat over the decision of the Governor to open a mobile control room within the Raj Bhavan premises through which common people can share their views with the office of the Governor on the ongoing protest agitation on the ghastly rape and murder of a woman doctor at state-run R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital.

Trinamool Congress leaders have claimed that the Governor is under pressure from the Centre to prepare and submit such a report so that the democratically elected state government can be put in trouble.