The bureaucrat was recalled on a day a row broke out over a meet between PM and Mamata Banerjee (File)

New Delhi:

The centre has issued an order to recall West Bengal’s top bureaucrat from the state on a day a row broke out over a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay’s tenure was extended for three months only four days ago, before today’s order to recall him to the centre came.

According to rules, the Mamata Banerjee government has to first relieve the Chief Secretary before he can be sent back to the centre.

The centre has asked Bengal to send Mr Bandyopadhyay to the Department of Personnel and Training’s office in Delhi by May 31 morning.

The development comes hours after Ms Banerjee skipped a meeting with PM Modi to assess the impact of Cyclone Yaas, choosing instead a quick 15-minute interaction with him at an airbase where his flight landed. She was to attend a cyclone damage review with PM Modi but left after handing him a report. The centre alleged Ms Banerjee kept PM Modi and governor Jagdeep Dhankhar waiting for half-an-hour.