Gautam Sanyal

Gautam Sanyal is an Indian career civil servant who currently serves as Principal Secretary to Government of West Bengal, since June 2015.^[1][2][3] In June 2016, he was re-appointed^[4] as Principal Secretary and his tenure co-terminus with that of Chief Minister of West Bengal.^[4][5]

Gautam Sanyal
Personal details
Born	14 October 1951
Nationality	Indian

He previously served as Secretary to Chief Minister of West Bengal from 2011 to 2015.^[6][7][8] He also previously served as Joint Secretary to Government of India. He is a 1976 batch Central Secretariat Service officer.^[9]

Early life and education

Sanyal has a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Ashutosh College, a Masters in Sociology from Delhi University in 1997, and later earned a Master of Business Administration from United Kingdom.

Career

 

 

Mamata Banerjee seen here with Chairman and members of Railway Board, Gautam Sanyal (right) and also seen interacting with the media persons after the presentation of Railway Budget 2011-12.

Sanyal initially joined the West Bengal Civil Service as a Group C officer - Assistant Commercial Tax Officer in 1973. However, he cracked the UPSC exams in 1975 and joined the Central Secretariat Service in 1976^[9] after qualifying through the Civil Services Examination. He rose through ranks and was appointed as an Under Secretary in the HRD Ministry in 1990. He was later empanelled as a Deputy Secretary in the Railways Ministry in 1998 and as Joint Secretary to Government of India in Ministry of Food Processing Industries^[10] in June 2009 by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. He was also the board member of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.^[11][12]

He later served as Officer on Special Duty^[10] to Union Cabinet Minister of Railways from 2009 to 2011. He retired in 2011.

After retirement from the Central Government, he was appointed as Secretary to the Chief Minister of West Bengal. His appointment and tenure to the post was made co-terminous with that of the Chief Minister.^[13]

Recognition

He is the first non Indian Administrative Service officer^[14][15] in West Bengal and the first retired civil servant^[16] to hold the position of Secretary in the Chief Ministers Office. He also became the first non IAS officer in history to hold the position of Principal Secretary in State governments of India.^[17][18]

In 2011, a news blog declared him as the new poster boy of India's civil services.^[19] The Indian Express and The Financial Express rate him as top state bureaucrat in India^[20][21] in the article most powerful Indians for the year 2013.^[20][21] Many media articles consider him to the most powerful civil servant in the state in India^[22][23] and the "most important officer" in the Government of West Bengal.^{[24][25][26][27]}

In 2015, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (DOPT) of Government of India rejected petition filed by the IAS association against the appointment of Gautam Sanyal as the Principal Secretary.^[28] In 2018, India Today listed Sanyal in top 10 hidden corridor power in India.^[29]

Issues

In 2013, media articles reported that CBI director Ranjit Sinha had placed Sanyal on his hit-list.^[30][31][32] In 2019, media reported that Sanyal is in the process of investigation by Enforcement Directorate in connection with the disinvestment of a state government company in West Bengal.^[33]

References

1. "Appointment of Gautam Sanyal as Principal Secretary: Government of West Bengal" (PDF). Government of West Bengal. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
2. . The Telegraph (Calcutta). Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
3. "Row over retired officer's promotion". The Times of India. 28 June 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
4. (PDF). Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
5. . The Telegraph (Calcutta) . Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
6. . Ministry of Home Affairs. Archived from the original on 18 June 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
7. "West Bengal CMO to be headed by retired officer Gautam Sanyal". The Times of India. 27 October 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
8. "West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appoints Gautam Sanyal as Secretary". Jagran Post Newspaper. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
9. "Year 2010 Civil List of Group A officers of CSS" (PDF). Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
10. Jha, Srinand. "In Mamata absence, core team of bureaucrats kept on the job". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
11. "Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)". SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CASELAW. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
12. "FSSAI gets a new CEO, 7 ex-officio members". Food & Beverage News. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
13. "Food minister wants extension for dept secy". The Statesman. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
14. "In Mayawati's footsteps". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
15. . Asian Age. Archived from the original on 6 December 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
16. "West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee man in perpetuity!". The Statesman. Archived from the original on 28 November 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
17. . The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
18. "DoPT rejects IAS Association plea". Bureaucracy Today. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
19. "Gautam Sanyal is Mamata's Pulok; shows how a CSS officer can upset IAS power". Babus of India. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
20. "The most powerful Indians in 2013: Top Public Figures". The Indian Express. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
21. . The Financial Express. Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
22. "Dilli Ka Babu". Afternoon. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
23. . Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
24. . Business Line. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
25. . The Times of India. Archived from the original on 31 October 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
26. Nagchoudhury, Subrata (18 March 2012). "She stops to conquer". The Indian Express. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
27. Raychaudhuri, Diptendra. "Mamata vs Babus: West Bengal Bureaucracy". gfiles Magazine. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
28. "IAS Lobby Frets Over Eroding Monopoly". The New Indian Express. from the original on 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
29. "Official Top 10: Hidden power". India Today. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
30. "Mamata's men on CBI hit-list". The Sunday Guardian. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
31. . Outlook (magazine). Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
32. "Mamata Banerjee's tenure as railway minister under CBI scanner". Gulf News. 12 May 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
33. "Not just Rajeev Kumar, 3 more top IAS and IPS officers close to Mamata are being probed". The Print. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2019.

External links

•  Biography portal
•  India portal

• Official Government of West Bengal (2018)
• Official Government of West Bengal, Personnel and Administrative Reforms (2015)
• IAS Lobby Frets Over Eroding Monopoly 2020-06-05 at the Wayback Machine The New Indian Express (2015)
• "Super CMO: Power Center in West Bengal". NewsX. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012.
• . The Times of India. Archived from the original on 29 August 2011.
• Mamata ropes in officials from Railway Ministry
• "Mamata wants to run Railways from Kolkata". Daily News and Analysis (DNA). Archived from the original on 17 January 2012.
• Civil Servants scramble to keep up with workaholic Chief Minister

Order of precedence
Preceded by Unknown	Order of Precedence of India as Joint Secretary to Government of India 2009 to 2011	Incumbent