List of governors of West Bengal

The Governor of West Bengal is the nominal head of the Government of West Bengal. In the capacity of governor, the holder of the aforementioned is the constitutional representative of the President of India (the Union Government) in the state of West Bengal. C. V. Ananda Bose is the incumbent governor, having taken office on 18 November 2022.^[1]

Governor of West Bengal
Incumbent C. V. Ananda Bose since 18 November 2022 (2022-11-18)
Style	The Honourable (formal) Mr. Governor (informal) His/Her Excellency
Status	Head of state
Abbreviation	GoWB
Residence	Raj Bhavan, Kolkata (primary) Raj Bhavan, Darjeeling (summer)
Appointer	President of India
Term length	Five years (renewable)
Precursor	Governor-General of India
Inaugural holder	Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari
Formation	15 August 1947; 77 years ago (1947-08-15)
Salary	₹350,000 (US$4,200) (per month)
Website	rajbhavankolkata.nic.in

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^[timeframe?] 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 or 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.

1935–1947 – Governors of the Province of Bengal

Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Appointer
The Lord Brabourne		30 May 1937	23 February 1939	The Marquess of Linlithgow
Sir John Arthur Herbert		1 July 1939	1 December 1943
The Lord Casey		14 January 1944	19 February 1946	The Viscount Wavell
Sir Frederick John Burrows		19 February 1946	15 August 1947

List of governors

Key

•	indicates that this was an additional charge

No.	Name	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Duration	Home State	Appointed by
1.	Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari		15 August 1947	21 June 1948	311 days	Tamil Nadu	Lord Mountbatten
2.	Kailash Nath Katju		21 June 1948	1 November 1951	3 years, 133 days	Madhya Pradesh	Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari
3.	Harendra Coomar Mookerjee		1 November 1951	8 August 1956	4 years, 281 days	West Bengal	Rajendra Prasad
–	Phani Bhusan Chakravartti		8 August 1956	3 November 1956	87 days	Bengal
4.	Padmaja Naidu		3 November 1956	1 June 1967	10 years, 210 days	Andhra Pradesh
5.	Dharma Vira		1 June 1967	1 April 1969	1 year, 304 days	Uttar Pradesh	Zakir Husain
–	Deep Narayan Sinha		1 April 1969	19 September 1969	171 days	Not Known
6.	Shanti Swaroop Dhavan		19 September 1969	21 August 1971	1 year, 336 days		V. V. Giri
7.	Anthony Lancelot Dias		21 August 1971	6 November 1979	8 years, 77 days	Maharashtra
8.	Tribhuvana Narayana Singh		6 November 1979	12 September 1981	1 year, 310 days	Uttar Pradesh	Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy
9.	Bhairab Dutt Pande		12 September 1981	10 October 1983	2 years, 28 days	Uttarakhand
10.	Anant Prasad Sharma		10 October 1983	16 August 1984	320 days	Bihar	Zail Singh
—	Satish Chandra		16 August 1984	1 October 1984	46 days	Uttar Pradesh
11.	Uma Shankar Dikshit		1 October 1984	12 August 1986	1 year, 315 days
12.	Saiyid Nurul Hasan		12 August 1986	20 March 1989	2 years, 220 days
13.	T. V. Rajeswar		20 March 1989	7 February 1990	324 days	Tamil Nadu	R. Venkataraman
(12).	Saiyid Nurul Hasan		7 February 1990	12 July 1993	3 years, 155 days	Uttar Pradesh
–	B. Satyanarayan Reddy		13 July 1993	14 August 1993	32 days	Andhra Pradesh	Shankar Dayal Sharma
14.	K. V. Raghunatha Reddy		14 August 1993	27 April 1998	4 years, 256 days
15.	Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai		27 April 1998	18 May 1999	1 year, 21 days	Uttar Pradesh	K. R. Narayan
16.	Shyamal Kumar Sen		18 May 1999	4 December 1999	200 days	West Bengal
17.	Viren J. Shah		4 December 1999	14 December 2004	5 years, 10 days
18.	Gopalkrishna Gandhi		14 December 2004	14 December 2009	5 years, 0 days	Delhi	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
–	Devanand Konwar		14 December 2009	23 January 2010	40 days	Assam	Pratibha Patil
19.	M.K. Narayanan		24 January 2010	30 June 2014	4 years, 157 days	Tamil Nadu
—	D. Y. Patil[2]		3 July 2014	17 July 2014	14 days	Maharashtra	Pranab Mukherjee
20.	Keshari Nath Tripathi		24 July 2014	29 July 2019	5 years, 5 days	Uttar Pradesh
21.	Jagdeep Dhankhar[3]		30 July 2019	17 July 2022	2 years, 352 days	Rajasthan	Ramnath Kovind
—	La. Ganesan		18 July 2022	17 November 2022	122 days	Tamil Nadu
22.	C. V. Ananda Bose		18 November 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 3 days	Kerala	Draupadi Murmu

See also

• West Bengal
• Governors and Lieutenant-Governors of states of India

References

1. Singh, Shiv Sahay (23 November 2022). "C.V. Ananda Bose sworn in as West Bengal Governor". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
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.

External links

• Raj Bhavan's (Governor's residence) official website
  • Constitutional role of Governor
  • Ex officio role of Governor
  • title=Governors of Bengal from 1912 up to the present day