First Mamata Banerjee ministry

The Council of Ministers of West Bengal is the collective decision-making body of the Government of West Bengal, composed of the Chief Minister and 34 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers. The Cabinet is the ultimate decision-making body of the executive within the Westminster system of government in traditional constitutional theory.

The Union Council of Ministers of the Government of West Bengal was formed after the 2011 West Bengal state assembly election held in six phases in 2011: on 18 April, 23 April, 27 April, 3 May, 7 and 10 May 2011. The results of the election were announced on 13 May 2011 and led to the formation of the 15th Vidhan Sabha. Mamata Banerjee took oath as the 11th Chief Minister of West Bengal on 20 May 2011, followed by the oath-taking ceremonies of the present 'Council of Ministers'.

Constitutional requirement

For the Council of Ministers to aid and advise Governor

According to Article 163 of the Indian Constitution,

1. There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his function, except in so far as he is by or under this Constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion.
2. If any question arises whether any matter is or is not a matter as respects which the Governor is by or under this Constitution required to act in his discretion, the decision of the Governor in his discretion shall be final, and the validity of anything done by the Governor shall not be called in question on the ground that he ought or ought not to have acted in his discretion.
3. The question whether any, and if so what, advice was tendered by Ministers to the Governor shall not be inquired into in any court.

This means that the Ministers serve under the pleasure of the Governor and he/she may remove them, on the advice of the Chief Minister, whenever they want.

For other provisions as to Ministers

According to Article 164 of the Indian Constitution,

1. The Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister, and the Minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor:
   Provided that in the States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, there shall be a Minister in charge of tribal welfare who may in addition be in charge of the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and backward classes or any other work.
2. The Council of Minister shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State.
3. Before a Minister enters upon his office, the Governor shall administer to him the oaths of office and of secrecy according to the forms set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule.
4. A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the Legislature of the State shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister.
5. The salaries and allowances of Ministers shall be such as the Legislature of the State may from time to time by law determine and, until the Legislature of the State so determines, shall be a specified in the Second Schedule.

Government and politics

The West Bengal is governed through a parliamentary system of representative democracy, a feature the state shares with other Indian states. Universal suffrage is granted to residents. There are two branches of government. The legislature, the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, consists of elected members and special office bearers such as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, that are elected by the members. Assembly meetings are presided over by the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker in the Speaker's absence. The judiciary is composed of the Calcutta High Court and a system of lower courts. Executive authority is vested in the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister, although the titular head of government is the Governor. The Governor is the head of state appointed by the President of India. The leader of the party or coalition with a majority in the Legislative Assembly is appointed as the Chief Minister by the Governor, and the Council of Ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. The Council of Ministers reports to the Legislative Assembly. The Assembly is unicameral with 295 Members of the Legislative Assembly, or MLAs,[1][2] including one nominated from the Anglo-Indian community. Terms of office run for 5 years, unless the Assembly is dissolved prior to the completion of the term. Auxiliary authorities known as panchayats, for which local body elections are regularly held, govern local affairs. The state contributes 42 seats to Lok Sabha and 16 seats to Rajya Sabha of the Indian Parliament.[3]

The main players in the regional politics are the All India Trinamool Congress, the Indian National Congress, the Left Front alliance. Following the West Bengal State Assembly Election in 2011, the All India Trinamool Congress and Indian National Congress coalition under Mamata Banerjee of the All India Trinamool Congress was elected to power (getting 225 seats in the legislature).[4] West Bengal had been ruled by the Left Front for the past 34 years, making it the world's longest-running democratically elected communist government.[5][6]

Council of Ministers

Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee heads her first Cabinet, May 2011 to present

There are Total 41 Ministers with excluding Chief Minister of West Bengal with 17 New Face. This is a list of members of the Council of Ministers of the Government of West Bengal after the 2016 state assembly election.[7] All ministers are based in offices of their respective Ministries in Kolkata. All Cabinet members are mandated by the constitution to be members of the Vidhan Sabha of West Bengal. In a departure from the norm the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, did not join the cabinet as a member of the Vidhan Sabha.[8][9][10]

Ranking

There are three categories of ministers, in descending order of rank:

• Cabinet Minister: Senior minister in-charge of a ministry. A cabinet minister may also hold additional charges of other Ministries, where no other Cabinet minister is appointed
• Minister of State (Independent Charges): Junior minister not reporting to a cabinet minister
• Minister of State (MoS): Junior minister with overseeing Cabinet Minister, usually tasked with a specific responsibility in that ministry. For instance, an MoS in the Finance Ministry may only handle taxation

Cabinet Ministers

Sl. No.	Name	Ministries	Constituency
1	Mamata Banerjee	Chief Minister of West Bengal Also in-charge of: Ministry of Home Affairs Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Ministry of Land & Land Reforms Ministry of Information & Cultural Affairs Ministry of Hill Affairs Micro and Small Scale Enterprises Ministry of Personnel & Administrative Reforms Ministry of Minority Affairs & Madrassah Education	Bhabanipur
2	Partha Chatterjee	Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs Minister for Education Minister of Science & Technology and Biotechnology	Behala Paschim
3	Amit Mitra	Ministry of Finance Ministry of Excise Ministry of Commerce and Industries Ministry of Industrial Reconstruction Ministry of Public Enterprise	Khardaha
4	Subrata Mukherjee	Ministry of Panchayat & Rural Development Ministry of Public Health Engineering	Ballygunge
5	Bratya Basu	Ministry of Information Technology & Electronics	Dum Dum
6	Jyotipriyo Mullick	Ministry of Food & Supplies	Habra
7	Sovandeb Chattopadhyay	Ministry of Power & Non-Conventional Energy Sources	Rashbehari
8	Arup Biswas	Ministry of PWD Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sports	Tollygung
9	Firhad Hakim	Ministry of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs	Kolkata Port
10	Sovan Chatterjee	Ministry of Fire & Engineering, Housing, Environment	Behala Purba
11	Suvendu Adhikari	Ministry of Transport	Nandigram
12	Abani Mohan Joardar	Ministry of Correctional Administration Ministry of Refugee Relief & Rehabilitation	Krishnanagar Uttar
13	Sadhan Pande	Ministry of Self Help Groups Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution	Maniktala
14	Abdur Rezzak Mollah	Ministry of Food Procurement and Horticulture	Bhangar
15	Purnendu Bose	Ministry of Agriculture	Rajarhat-Gopalpur
16	Arup Roy	Ministry of Co-operation	Howrah Central
17	Asish Banerjee	Ministry of Biotechnology Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation	Rampurhat
18	Javed Khan	Ministry of Disaster Management	Kasba
19	Churamani Mahato	Ministry of Backward Classes Welfare	Kumargram
20	Soumen Mahapatra	Ministry of Water Resources	Pingla
21	James Kujur	Ministry of Tribal Development	Kumargram
22	Tapan Dasgupta	Ministry of Agriculture Marketing	Saptagram
23	Goutam Deb	Ministry of Tourism	Dabgram-Phulbari
24	Chandranath Sinha	Ministry of Fisheries	Bolpur
25	Binay Krishna Barman	Ministry of Forest	Mathabhanga
26	Moloy Ghatak	Ministry of Labour Ministry of Law & Judicial Services	Asansol North
27	Rabindranath Ghosh	Ministry of North Bengal Development	Natabari
28	Rajib Banerjee	Ministry of Irrigation and Waterways	Domjur
29	Santiram Mahato	Ministry of Paschimanchal Unnayan	Balarampur

//=== Ministers of State (Independent Charges) ===

Sl. No.	Name	Ministries	Constituency
30	Swapan Debnath	Ministry of MSME	Purbasthali South
31	Manturam Pakhira	Ministry of Sunderbans Development	Kakdwip
32	Ashima Patra	Ministry of Technical Education	Dhanikhali
33	Shashi Panja [lower-alpha 1]	Minister of Women Development & Social Welfare, Child Development MoS–Health and Family Welfare	Shyampukur
34	Siddiquallah Chowdhury [lower-alpha 2]	MoS-Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs Minister of Mass Education, Library	Mangalkote

Ministers of State (MoS)

Sl. No.	Name	Ministries	Constituency
35	Indranil Sen	Ministry of Information & Cultural Affairs	Chandannagar
36	Laxmi Ratan Shukla	Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports	Howrah North
37	Bachhu Hansda	Ministry of North Bengal Development	Tapan
38	Ghulam Rabbani	Ministry of Tourism	Goalpokhar
39	Zakir Hossain	Ministry of Labour	Jangipur
40	Shyamal Santra	Ministry of Panchayat & Rural Development Ministry of PHE	Kotulpur
41	Sandharani Tudu	Ministry of Backward Classes Welfare	Manbazar
42	Giasuddin Mollah	Ministry of Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education	Magrahat

Notes

1. The MLA is also a Non-independent Minister of State (MoS)
2. The MLA is also a Non-independent Minister of State (MoS)

References

1. "West Bengal Legislative Assembly". Legislative Bodies in India. National Informatics Centre. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2006.
2. "Election Database". Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 18 August 2006. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
3. "West Bengal". India Together. Civil Society Information Exchange Pvt. Ltd. Archived from the original on 18 August 2002. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
4. "Statewise results – West Bengal". Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
5. Mukherjee, Rudrangshu. "The CPI(M) has always used violence to achieve its goals". India Together. Calcutta, India: The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
6. Akbar, M J. "West Bengal: Next time, the volcano". The Times of India. India. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
7. The result published on Election Commission of India
8. Data collected from (some data were wrong, corrected by Education Guide)The Hindu
9. WB Xpress
10. Data collected from West Bengal Information & Cultural Centre, New Delhi