List of governors of West Bengal

Governor of West Bengal
Governor of West Bengal
	Incumbent; C. V. Ananda Bose; since 23 November 2022
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
Salary	₹350,000 (US$4,200) (per month)
Website	rajbhavankolkata.nic.in

The Governor of West Bengal is the nominal head of state of the Indian state of West Bengal and a representative of the President of India. The governor is appointed by the president for a term of five years. His official residence is the Raj Bhavan. C. V. Ananda Bose was appointed as the current governor of West Bengal on 23 November 2022.^[1]

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

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	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 Marquess of Linlithgow
The Lord Casey	14 January 1944	19 February 1946	The Viscount Wavell
Sir Frederick John Burrows	19 February 1946	15 August 1947	The Viscount Wavell

List of governors

No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Duration
1		Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari	15 August 1947	21 June 1948	311 days
2		Kailash Nath Katju	21 June 1948	1 November 1951	3 years, 133 days
3	–	Harendra Coomar Mookerjee	1 November 1951	8 August 1956	4 years, 281 days
–	–	Phani Bhusan Chakravartti (acting)	8 August 1956	3 November 1956	87 days
4	–	Padmaja Naidu	3 November 1956	1 June 1967	10 years, 210 days
5		Dharma Vira	1 June 1967	1 April 1969	1 year, 304 days
–	–	Deep Narayan Sinha (acting)	1 April 1969	19 September 1969	171 days
6	–	Shanti Swaroop Dhavan	19 September 1969	21 August 1971	1 year, 336 days
7		Anthony Lancelot Dias	21 August 1971	6 November 1979	8 years, 77 days
8	–	Tribhuvana Narayana Singh	6 November 1979	12 September 1981	1 year, 310 days
9	–	Bhairab Dutt Pande	12 September 1981	10 October 1983	2 years, 28 days
10	–	Anant Prasad Sharma	10 October 1983	16 August 1984	320 days
—	–	Satish Chandra (acting)	16 August 1984	1 October 1984	46 days
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
(12)		Saiyid Nurul Hasan	7 February 1990	12 July 1993	3 years, 155 days
–	–	B. Satyanarayan Reddy (additional charge)	13 July 1993	14 August 1993	32 days
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
16		Shyamal Kumar Sen	18 May 1999	4 December 1999	200 days
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
–		Devanand Konwar (additional charge)	14 December 2009	23 January 2010	40 days
19		M.K. Narayanan	24 January 2010	30 June 2014	4 years, 157 days
—		D. Y. Patil (additional charge)^[2]	3 July 2014	17 July 2014	14 days
20		Keshari Nath Tripathi	24 July 2014	29 July 2019	5 years, 5 days
21		Jagdeep Dhankhar^[3]	30 July 2019	17 July 2022	2 years, 352 days
—		La. Ganesan (additional charge)	18 July 2022	22 November 2022	127 days
22		C. V. Ananda Bose	23 November 2022	Incumbent	1 year, 344 days