New Delhi: As the TMC government was dethroned after a 15-year-long regime in West Bengal, a letter issued by the Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala directed all government departments to ensure that no files or official documents are taken out without proper authorisation. The development aims to ensure accountability and prevent irregularities in record handling.
Such instructions, however, are not new. In February last year, a similar directive was issued in Delhi by the General Administration Department following the defeat of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the recent Assembly elections.
“I haven’t seen it anywhere else. It began with Delhi when the letter was issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) following L-G VK Saxena’s directions. Now we saw this in Bengal too. It is clearly a trend that we are seeing wherever the BJP is coming to power,” said a senior bureaucrat in Delhi on the condition of anonymity.
The Election Commission of India appointed Nariala as the Bengal Chief Secretary on March 15, the day election dates were announced.
Another bureaucrat said that the concern goes beyond current politics, rooted in longstanding administrative practices around handling sensitive records.
“Governments often make decisions that benefit certain contractors or networks, and when there is a change in power, there is always a risk of sensitive records being tampered with or removed,” he said, adding that such practices were seen earlier as well.
In states like Bihar, there have been instances in the past where files were destroyed overnight, the bureaucrat said.
“While digitisation has made it harder to do so today, attempts to manipulate records have not entirely disappeared,” said a senior bureaucrat, requesting anonymity,” he added.
Also read: BJYM ecstatic over Bengal Gen Z’s ‘inner conscience’. TMC youth wing ‘still can’t believe’
‘No unauthorised copying shall be permitted’
Officers posted in Bengal told ThePrint that it was learnt that the outgoing West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, or her Principal Secretary, was expected to visit the secretariat.
“It came into our knowledge that the CM or her PS was about to come to the secretariat. Technically, she is the CM until the new one joins,” one election officer said.
According to an order released by the Office of the Chief Secretary on 4 May, all departmental secretaries and heads of offices have been instructed to ensure that no important papers or files are removed, damaged, or taken without authorisation.
“No unauthorised copying/scanning shall be permitted,” reads the letter.
It further states that departmental heads will be held personally responsible for ensuring compliance, and strict accountability will be enforced in case of any violation.
“Further, all files/important papers/communication shall be properly accounted for. The Head of Departments and Departmental Secretaries shall personally ensure that this is followed in letter and spirit. Personal responsibility shall be fixed for any instance of deviation,” states the letter.
Together, the two instances point to a pattern the BJP has repeatedly underscored in its political messaging — tightening bureaucratic controls as part of its broader anti-corruption plank. When the BJP leader visited West Bengal, they had warned about the corruption.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)