The West Bengal government on Monday extended the tenure of chief secretary Manoj Pant for six months till December 31.
The 1991-batch IAS officer is one of the closest confidantes of the chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Since taking over as the chief secretary last September, Pant has played a key role in dealing with the agitation of the junior doctors after last year’s rape and murder at the RG Kar medical college and hospital, the teachers’ agitation following the Supreme Court verdict that sacked over 25,000 teaching and non-teaching staff and the Murshidabad riots.
The Centre on Monday accepted the Bengal government’s decision to extend Pant’s tenure.
“With the Assembly elections next year the chief minister would not like to disturb the status quo. She would like to go into the elections with Pant leading the bureaucracy though that might be difficult,” said a source in the state secretariat.
Known as an efficient officer, Pant was appointed chief secretary after the Centre refused another extension to his predecessor B.P. Gopalika.
Pant had started his tenure as the top bureaucrat when the anger against the Mamata Banerjee government after the RG Kar incident was at its peak. Pant along with home secretary Nandini Chakraborty had reached out to the junior doctors on hunger strike and brought about a truce.
During his appointment as chief secretary Pant had superseded five officers from the 1989 and 1990 batches.
Pant had served as the district magistrates in troubled spots of Murshidabad and North 24-Parganas, both bordering Bangladesh. Between 2009 and 2011 he had served as private secretary to the late Pranab Mukherjee, when he was the union finance minister.
He has also worked as senior adviser in the World Bank from 2011-2014.
According to sources, the chief minister had the options of Prabhat Mishra, the finance secretary, Vivek Kumar, the land department secretary and Chakraborty, the home secretary. But, the chief minister decided to stay with Pant for now.