Nandini Chakravorty, a 1994-batch IAS officer, was appointed the chief secretary of Bengal after the incumbent Manoj Pant retired on Wednesday.

Chakraborty, who was the home secretary, along with additional responsibilities of parliamentary affairs and tourism departments, would be the first woman chief secretary of Bengal.

The chief minister also appointed J.P. Meena, a 2004-batch IAS officer, as the home secretary.

A section of bureaucrats said chief minister Mamata Banerjee sent a message by appointing Chakravorty as chief secretary even though she superseded at least six IAS officers who were senior to her.

“It was a master stroke of the chief minister as she projected a Bengali officer as well as a woman in the topmost bureaucratic position in the state. The ruling party is eyeing women’s votes. Appointing Chakravorty is a message for them. Second, the decision backs the ruling party’s election agenda of igniting Bengali pride among the voters. Also, it would blunt the attacks of the leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari. He cannot attack Chakravorty easily as he used to attack Pant,” said a bureaucrat.

Chakravorty’s appointment to the top post has triggered a mixed reaction in the bureaucracy.

“Atri Bhattacharya, ACS (additional chief secretary), Sundarban affairs (1989 Batch), Vivek Kumar (1990-batch), ACS, land and land reforms, Krishna Gupta (1991 batch), ACS, cooperation, Barun Roy (1992 batch), ACS, non-conventional energy, Prabhat Mishra, (1993-batch), ACS, finance, and Roshni Sen (1993-batch), ACS, fisheries department were among the officers whom Chakravorty superseded. Some of these officers were prevented from joining the Union government even after they were enlisted by the Centre for positions in Delhi. If they can’t be made the chief secretary, they should have been released earlier for the sake of their career,” said a bureaucrat.

But another posting was a point of discussion in the administrative circles.

Manoj Pant, the former chief secretary, was appointed as the principal secretary to the chief minister, who will hold the rank of chief secretary. Even though Pant was made the principal secretary to the chief minister, there was no word on the position of Goutam Sanyal, the incumbent.

A bureaucrat has said that there can’t be two principal secretaries to the chief minister.

“What I know is that Sanyal, who has been serving with the chief minister since she took over as the chief minister in 2011, was seeking relief from the position, citing health reasons. But I am not sure about the current position after Pant was appointed as the new principal secretary to the chief minister,” said a senior official.

Atri Bhattacharya was given the additional charge of director general of the administrative training institute, and Barun Roy was given the additional charge of the tourism department, along with their existing responsibilities. Sunrendra Gupta, the PHE secretary, was given the charge of divisional commissioner of the Presidency division.