List of governors of West Bengal

The Governor of West Bengal is a nominal head and representative of the President of India in the state of West Bengal. He is the Head of State of West Bengal. The governor is appointed by the president for a term of five years. His official residence is the Raj Bhavan. Jagdeep Dhankhar became the governor of West Bengal on 30 July 2019.[1]

Governor of West Bengal
রাজভবন, কলকাতা
Raj Bhavan, Kolkata
Incumbent
Jagdeep Dhankhar
since 30 July 2019 (2019-07-30)
StyleHis Excellency
StatusHead of state of West Bengal
Residence
AppointerPresident of India
Term lengthFive Years
Inaugural holderChakravarthi Rajagopalachari
Formation15 August 1947 (1947-08-15)
Websitehttp://rajbhavankolkata.nic.in
The state of West Bengal in India

History

In 1911 the Imperial capital of India was moved from Calcutta to Delhi and as some compensation to Bengal the lieutenant governor with council gave place to a governor with a council thus completing the circle and reverting to the position which had been obtained 200 years ago. In 1947 India achieved independence and the title of Governor of Bengal remained.

Powers and functions
See also: Governors of India § Powers and functions

The Governor enjoys many different types of powers:

  • Executive powers related to administration, appointments and removals,
  • Legislative powers related to lawmaking and the state legislature, that is Vidhan Sabha or Vidhan Parishad, and
  • Discretionary powers to be carried out according to the discretion of the Governor.

Ex officio Role of Governor

In his ex officio capacity, the Governor of West Bengal is Chancellor of the universities of West Bengal (at present 16) as per the Acts of the Universities. The Universities are: University of Calcutta; Jadavpur University; Presidency University, Kolkata; University of Kalyani;Rabindra Bharati University; Vidyasagar University; University of Burdwan; North Bengal University; Netaji Subhas Open University; Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology; Aliah University; Bankura University; Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University; Diamond Harbour Women's University; University of Gour Banga; Kazi Nazrul University; Raiganj University; Sidho Kanho Birsha University; Sanskrit College and University; West Bengal University of Teachers' Training, Education Planning and Administration; Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya; Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswa Vidyalaya; West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences; West Bengal University of Health Sciences and West Bengal State University. For Visva Bharati, the Governor is the Pradhana (Rector).

The Governor is also the Chairman / President of some organizations such as Victoria Memorial Hall, Indian Museum, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS), Calcutta Cultural Centre (Kolkata Kala Kendra), Special Fund for R&R of Ex-servicemen, West Bengal Rajya Sainik Board, Sri Aurobindo Samiti, Indian Red Cross Society - West Bengal State Branch, St. John Ambulance Brigade No. II (West Bengal) District, Bharat Scouts and Guides and the Bengal Tuberculosis Association.

Governor of West Bengal’s Welfare Fund, has the governor as its chairman. Contributions from this Fund are given to the needy people for meeting, to some extent the cost of their treatment. Besides the above, at his discretion, the Governor, accepts the position of Chief Patron/Patron or other posts in the honorary capacity, in various organizations that are rendering yeoman service to the society in different fields.

List of governors
No. Portrait Name Took office Left office
1 Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari 15 August 1947 21 June 1948
2 Kailash Nath Katju 21 June 1948 1 November 1951
3  – Harendra Coomar Mookerjee 1 November 1951 8 August 1956
4  – Phani Bhusan Chakravartti 8 August 1956 3 November 1956
5  – Padmaja Naidu 3 November 1956 1 June 1967
6 Dharma Vira 1 June 1967 1 April 1969
7  – Deep Narayan Sinha (acting) 1 April 1969 19 September 1969
8  – Shanti Swaroop Dhavan 19 September 1969 21 August 1971
9  – Anthony Lancelot Dias 21 August 1971 6 November 1979
10  – Tribhuvana Narayana Singh 6 November 1979 12 September 1981
11  – Bhairab Dutt Pande 12 September 1981 10 October 1983
12  – Anant Prasad Sharma 10 October 1983 16 August 1984
13  – Satish Chandra (acting) 16 August 1984 1 October 1984
14  – Uma Shankar Dikshit 1 October 1984 12 August 1986
15 Saiyid Nurul Hasan 12 August 1986 20 March 1989
16 T. V. Rajeswar 20 March 1989 7 February 1990
17 Saiyid Nurul Hasan 7 February 1990 12 July 1993
18  – B. Satyanarayan Reddy (additional charge) 13 July 1993 14 August 1993
19  – K. V. Raghunatha Reddy 14 August 1993 27 April 1998
20  – Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai 27 April 1998 18 May 1999
21 Shyamal Kumar Sen 18 May 1999 4 December 1999
22 Viren J. Shah 4 December 1999 14 December 2004
23 Gopalkrishna Gandhi 14 December 2004 14 December 2009
24 Devanand Konwar (additional charge) 14 December 2009 23 January 2010
25 M.K. Narayanan 24 January 2010 30 June 2014
26 D. Y. Patil (acting charge)[2] 3 July 2014 17 July 2014
27 Keshari Nath Tripathi 24 July 2014 29 July 2019
28 Jagdeep Dhankhar[3] 30 July 2019 Incumbent

See also

References
  1. "sworn in as Bengal Governor". Zee News. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  2. "Dr D Y Patil appointed West Bengal's acting Governor". The Economic Times. 3 July 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  3. "Senior Advocate Jagdeep Dhankhar Made West Bengal Governor". www.livelaw.in. 20 July 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.

|title=Governors of Bengal from 1912 up to the present day]

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