State govt appoints GTA administrator amid corruption allegations in hill body

PTI, September 8, 2026, Kolkata: The West Bengal government has appointed Smrutiranjan Mohanty, the principal secretary of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), as the administrator of the hill body until further order, an official said on Tuesday.

Mohanty's appointment was formalised by means of a gazette notification issued on Monday by the state's home and hill affairs department, amid allegations of widespread corruption in the hill body where elections were last held in 2022.

The development came on a day when Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, while addressing an administrative meeting in Kalimpong virtually from Siliguri, warned of strict action against those allegedly involved in corruption perpetrated within the GTA.

Adhikari said thorough investigations would be conducted into alleged irregularities in the GTA's teacher recruitment process, the 'Amrit' drinking water project and "embezzlement" of funds for 11 development boards, including the Lepcha and Tamang boards, in the past.

Pointing out that the inquiry committee headed by retired Justice Biswajit Basu had begun its probe, the Chief Minister said: "Those who have looted government funds will face arrests, and the money will be recovered. No one will be spared."

The administrator's appointment was made in the wake of the June 17 resignation of GTA chief executive Anit Thapa, who is also the founder of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha, a Darjeeling hills-based party which was aligned with Mamata Banerjee's TMC, when it was ruling the state.

Subsequent to Thapa's resignation, GTA chairman Anjul Chowhan and the hill body's deputy chairman Rajesh Chowhan had also put in their papers, effectively bringing administrative activities in the Darjeeling hills to a halt.

The gazette notification stated that Mohanty would carry out all official activities of the GTA, while noting that the day-to-day activities of the administrative body were being hampered immensely.

An IAS officer of the 2015 batch from the West Bengal cadre, Mohanty has been serving as the GTA secretary since July 15.

The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration was formed in 2011 following an agreement between the erstwhile Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government and the hill parties, superseding the earlier 1988 Gorkha Accord which had led to the formation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, the first autonomous hill administrative body.

Acting on his poll promise of finding a "permanent political solution" for the Darjeeling hills, which has reverberated with demands for a separate state of Gorkhaland for many decades, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has constituted a committee to draft an agreement and finalise modalities to address the issue of Gorkha identity in the upper reaches of Bengal and its adjacent areas.

Shah, during his visit to North Bengal on August 22, held a meeting with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and a group of political leaders from the hills, including Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri, Gorkha National Liberation Front's Mann Ghisingh, Darjeeling MP Raju Bista and BJP legislators from the region, before announcing the formation of the committee.