West Bengal gets its first female Chief Secretary as Nandini Chakravorty

Senior IAS officer Nandini Chakravorty was on Wednesday (December 31, 2025) appointed the chief secretary of West Bengal, becoming the first woman to hold the post in the state.

Ms. Chakravorty, who was in charge of State’s Home and Hill Affairs Department replaced Manoj Pant as the Chief Secretary who superannuated on December 31. The term of Mr. Pant was set to expire on June 30, but he was given extension for six months till December 31

Ms. Chakravorty, was replaced by Jagdish Prasad Meena, who will be new Home Secretary. The bureaucratic reshuffle assumes significance as West Bengal goes to assembly polls in 2026.

Another order of the West Bengal government said that Mr. Pant is being appointed as Principal Secretary to the Chief Secretary in the rank of Chief Secretary.

The Mamata Banerjee government has been appointing a superannuating Chief Secretary in different administrative capacities. In 2024, outgoing Chief Secretary H.K. Dwivedi was appointed as Chief Financial Advisor to the Chief Minister. Mr. Dwivedi’s predecessor Alapan Bandyopadhyay was retained by the Chief Minister’s principal advisor following his retirement as the Chief Secretary.