Four Bengal DMs removed by ECI replaced with IAS-cadre officers

Kolkata, March 22 : The four District Magistrates in West Bengal, who were removed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday, were replaced by the state government with four Indian Administrative Service (IAS)-rank officers on Friday.

On Thursday, the ECI ordered the removal of the DMs of East Midnapore, East Burdwan, Jhargram, and Birbhum districts since none of them were from the IAS cadre.

They were all promoted to the rank of DM from the West Bengal Civil Service (Executive) cadre.

Placing non-IAS cadre officers in the ranks of DM was perceived as a violation of the earlier instruction of the Commission that only DMs from the IAS background could be given election-related duties.

Accordingly, Joyoshi Das Gupta, a 2010-batch IAS officer, has been made the DM of East Midnapore.Her mother Jaya Dasgupta is a retired IAS officer who served as the Additional Chief Secretary in the West Bengal government.

Momita Godara Basu, a 2007-batch IAS officer, has been appointed as the new DM of Jhargram, while K.Radhika Aiyar (2011 batch) and Shashank Shetty (2010 batch) have been made the DMs of East Burdwan and Birbhum districts, respectively.

All four newly-appointed DMs will take charge at 10 a.m.on Sunday.

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