Amid long-simmering tensions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister, former Chief Secretary of the state Alapan Bandyopadhyay has invited fresh trouble from the Center as the Union Home Ministry has invoked a stringent provision on Bandyopadhyay which could award him one year of imprisonment. Bandyopadhyay has become the epicentre of the latest tussle between Modi and Mamata. 

The tug-of-war between the foes had begun over the transfer of Alapan Bandyopadhyay. While Mamata spelt the transfer as illegal and refused to accept it, the Center has shown no signal to step away from calling Bandyopadhyay to Delhi. Bandyopadhyay, who was scheduled to retire on May 31, was recently given an extension to continue his bureaucracy in the state. The tussle has its root in the visit of Prime Minister Modi to the state to review the situations aftermath of Cyclone Yaas. 

According to reports, the Prime Minister has recently toured West Bengal to take stock of the devastations done by Cyclone Yaas. After undertaking the aerial survey of the areas affected by the cyclone, the Prime Minister reached Kalaikunda Air Force Station to hold a review meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay.  

After arriving at the meeting hall, the Prime Minister and the members of his entourage waited for the Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary, and the state government officials for 15 minutes. The Chief Secretary arrived in delay along with the Chief Minister and left the meeting immediately. Under the grounds of skipping the meeting with the Prime Minister, the Home Ministry has now invoked a provision against Alapan Bandyopadhyay, which could put him in jail for one year. 

The reports say that the Union Home Ministry has issued a show-cause notice to Bandyopadhyay under a stringent provision of the Disaster Management Act that warrants imprisonment for abstaining from a meeting presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi related to Cyclone Yaas. The notice has said that Bandyopadhyay has acted in a manner tantamount to refusing to comply with lawful directions of the Central government. 

As per the provision under the Disaster Management Act 51(B), if any officer does not follow any order of the Central government or the state government or the National Executive Committee, then he or she is warranted for one year imprisonment or paying penalty or both. The notice was served to Bandyopadhyay on Monday and the Home Ministry has directed him to reply to the notice within three days. 

The notice has indicated that his absence in attending the review meeting convened by the Prime Minister was behind invoking the stringent provision. The Home Ministry had pressed that Bandyopadhyay has violated Section 51(b) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has slammed the Center for serving notice to Bandyopadhyay and called it a 'political vendetta'. 

Flaying the Center, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party has claimed that the Center was acting in vengeance on the West Bengal government and that the notice sent to Bandyopadhyay is an illegal move. TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy has said that invoking section 51(b) of the Disaster Management Act was void and said that the question of violation of any provision does not arise. However, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has said that the strictest action must be taken against Bandyopadhyay for indiscipline and violation of rules. 

While, on one hand, Bandyopadhyay is facing charges of imprisonment, on the other hand, he has also been facing trouble from the Central Department of Personnel and Training. The department, which controls the IAS officers, had asked  Bandyopadhyay twice to appear for his further duty to the Central government in Delhi by Monday and again on Tuesday. 

However, he refused to appear in Delhi and he chose to retire, rather than accepting a three-month extension sanctioned to him by the state and central governments. He retired from the service post which Mamata Banerjee has appointed  Bandyopadhyay as the Chief Adviser to the government.  Bandyopadhyay is a 1987-batch IAS officer who could become the first bureaucrat in the country to face imprisonment for skipping the meet with the Prime Minister.