Calcutta, Feb. 29: Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said Subash Ghisingh would step down as caretaker administrator of the DGHC in 10 days.

The message was convey-ed to a visiting delegation of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which today withdrew its indefinite bandh and hunger strike in Darjeeling, called to press for Ghisingh’s “immediate” removal from the hill council and scrapping of the Sixth Schedule bill.

A statement issued by Bhattacharjee after a meeting with Morcha leaders at Writers’ Buildings said: “Subash Ghisingh, the administrator of the DGHC, has said he will resign within the next 10 days.”

The extended tenure of the GNLF chief as caretaker of the council ends on March 24.

Home secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray said Parliament was likely to send back to the state government the bill on Sixth Schedule status for the hills.

A standing committee report has recommended a reassessment of the draft taking into view the ground realities.

“I am told that the bill would be returned to the state. But it has not been formally conveyed to the government as yet,’’ Ray said.

Bhattacharjee, too, told the Morcha leaders that the bill would have to be referred back to the state.

“Ghisingh has 10 days to remove all his belongings from Lal Kothi or else face eviction on March 11. The chief minister gave us these assurances and so we are calling off the bandh and the fast. But we will launch a peaceful movement for Gorkhaland which will include Siliguri and the Dooars,” Morcha president Bimal Gurung told a news conference in Calcutta.

At a meeting with Bhattacharjee at Writers’ Buildings yesterday, Ghisingh was told to step down to help end the agitation in the hills.

Today, the chief minister urged Gurung and his associates to withdraw the agitation as the hill economy was taking a hit.