CM’s approval mandatory for senior officer promotions in Bengal

Kolkata, Aug 14 (AHN) The West Bengal government has decided that mandatory approval from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) will be required for clearing promotion proposals of officers above a particular pay‑scale or pay‑grade.

The state personnel and administrative reforms department issued a notification specifying the criteria for mandatory CMO approval for promotion proposals of state government officers beyond a particular pay‑scale.

The notification clarified which pay‑scale grades require CMO approval. The pay matrix will be as per the “West Bengal Services (Revision of Pay and Allowance) Rules” (ROPA, 2019).

As per the notification, state government officers in Pay Band‑5 (between Rs 37,400 and Rs 60,000) along with Grade‑Pay of Rs 8,900 will come under the new norm, where their promotion proposals will require mandatory clearance from the CMO.

In such cases, the state personnel and Administrative Reforms Department will send files relating to promotion proposals to the CMO, and promotions will be cleared only after CMO approval.

However, the directive is not entirely new. Earlier, the same department had issued notifications on July 7, 2014, and February 7, 2020. The fresh directive reminded departments of the earlier notifications and instructed them to adhere strictly to the guidelines.

The notification also stated that rules in this regard should not be relaxed in any way.

Besides tightening promotion rules, the department has called for reports from all other state government departments on detailed lists of officers in Pay Band‑5 eligible for promotion within the next seven days.

Secretaries, principal secretaries and additional chief secretaries of the departments concerned have also been asked to submit other relevant details of such officers, including the time when the last promotion was granted and whether it was done with the concurrence of the CMO.