The West Bengal government has reiterated that the Chief Minister’s approval is mandatory for the promotion of senior state government officials to posts at Level-22 or above in the pay matrix.
Nabanna, the state secretariat, has issued a directive to all state government departments, instructing them to strictly follow the existing rules governing such promotions. The Personnel and Administrative Reforms (P&AR) Department has made it clear that the prescribed procedure cannot be relaxed.
According to the notification, under the West Bengal Services (Revision of Pay and Allowance) Rules, 2019 (ROPA 2019), all files relating to promotions to posts at Level-22 or higher must be placed before the Chief Minister for approval through the P&AR Department. These posts correspond to the unrevised Scale 20, which carried a Pay Band-5 salary range of Rs 37,400–Rs 60,000 along with a Grade Pay of Rs 8,900.
The government has referred to notifications issued on July 7, 2014, and February 7, 2020, while reiterating that the existing provisions must be followed without any relaxation.
As part of the latest directive, Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of all state government departments have been asked to submit, within seven days, a list of posts under their respective departments that fall under Level-22 or above.
They have also been instructed to provide the P&AR Department with details of when promotions to these posts were last made and whether the Chief Minister’s approval was obtained at that time.
The move is expected to bring greater scrutiny and uniformity to the promotion process for senior bureaucratic posts across the state administration.
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