List of governors of West Bengal

Governor of West Bengal
Governor of West Bengal
	Incumbent; R. N. Ravi; since 12 March 2026
Style	The Honourable (formal); Mr. Governor (informal); His/Her Excellency
Status	Head of state
Abbreviation	GoWB
Residence	Lok Bhavan, Kolkata; (primary) Lok Bhavan, Darjeeling; (summer)
Appointer	President of India
Term length	At the pleasure of the president
Precursor	Governor-General of India
Inaugural holder	Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari
Formation	15 August 1947; 79 years ago
Salary	₹350,000 (US$4,900) (per month)
Website	rajbhavankolkata.gov.in

The governor of West Bengal is the nominal head of the Indian state of West Bengal. The governor is appointed by the President of India. R. N. Ravi is the incumbent governor since 12 March 2026.^[1]

Powers and functions[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

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:

For Visva Bharati, the governor is the Pradhana (Rector).

The governor is also the chairman or president of some organisations, 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.

The 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 organisations that are rendering yeoman service to society in different fields.

List[edit | edit source]

Legend

^† Died in office
^§ Transferred
^‡ Resigned/removed

Color key

indicates acting/additional charge

#	Portrait	Name (born – died)	Home state	Tenure in office			Appointer (President)
#	Portrait	Name (born – died)	Home state	From	To	Time in office	Appointer (President)
1		Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1878–1972)	Madras Presidency	15 August 1947	21 June 1948^[‡]^{[lower-greek 1]}	311 days	Lord Mountbatten (Governor-General)
2		Kailash Nath Katju (1887–1968)	Central Provinces and Berar	21 June 1948	1 November 1951	3 years, 133 days	Lord Mountbatten (Governor-General)
3		Harendra Coomar Mookerjee (1887–1956)	West Bengal	1 November 1951	7 August 1956^[†]	4 years, 280 days	Rajendra Prasad
4		Justice Phani Bhusan Chakravartti (1898–1981) (Acting)	West Bengal	8 August 1956	3 November 1956	87 days
5		Padmaja Naidu (1900–1975)	Andhra Pradesh	3 November 1956	1 June 1967	10 years, 210 days
6		Dharma Vira ICS (Retd.) (1906–2000)	Uttar Pradesh	1 June 1967	1 April 1969	1 year, 304 days	Zakir Husain
7		Justice Deep Narayan Sinha (Acting)	West Bengal	1 April 1969	19 September 1969	171 days	Zakir Husain
8		Shanti Swaroop Dhavan (1906–1978)	Uttar Pradesh	19 September 1969	21 August 1971	1 year, 336 days	V. V. Giri
9		Anthony Lancelot Dias ICS (Retd.) (1910–2002)	Maharashtra	21 August 1971	6 November 1979	8 years, 77 days	V. V. Giri
10		Tribhuvan Narain Singh (1904–1982)	Uttar Pradesh	6 November 1979	12 September 1981	1 year, 310 days	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
11		Bhairab Dutt Pande ICS (Retd.) (1917–2009)	Uttar Pradesh	12 September 1981	10 October 1983^[§]^{[lower-greek 2]}	2 years, 28 days	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
12		Anant Prasad Sharma (1919–1988)	Bihar	10 October 1983	16 August 1984	311 days	Zail Singh
13		Justice Satish Chandra (Acting)	Uttar Pradesh	16 August 1984	1 October 1984	46 days
14		Uma Shankar Dikshit (1901–1991)	Uttar Pradesh	1 October 1984	12 August 1986^[‡]	1 year, 315 days
15		Saiyid Nurul Hasan (1921–1993)	Uttar Pradesh	12 August 1986	20 March 1989^[§]^{[lower-greek 3]}	2 years, 220 days
16		T. V. Rajeswar IPS (Retd.) (1926–2018)	Tamil Nadu	20 March 1989	7 February 1990^[‡]	324 days	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
17		Saiyid Nurul Hasan (1921–1993)	Uttar Pradesh	7 February 1990	3 January 1991	330 days
18		K. V. Raghunatha Reddy (1924–2002) (Acting)	Andhra Pradesh	4 January 1991	23 January 1991	19 days
19		Saiyid Nurul Hasan (1921–1993)	Uttar Pradesh	24 January 1991	3 January 1992	344 days
20		Mohammad Shafi Qureshi (1928–2016) (Acting)	Jammu and Kashmir	3 January 1992	23 January 1992	20 days
21		Saiyid Nurul Hasan (1921–1993)	Uttar Pradesh	24 January 1992	12 July 1993^[†]	1 year, 169 days
22		B. Satya Narayan Reddy (1927–2012) (Additional Charge)	Andhra Pradesh	13 July 1993	14 August 1993	32 days	Shankar Dayal Sharma
23		K. V. Raghunatha Reddy (1924–2002)	Andhra Pradesh	14 August 1993	27 April 1998	4 years, 256 days	Shankar Dayal Sharma
24		Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai (1921–2016)	National Capital Territory of Delhi	27 April 1998	18 May 1999^[‡]	1 year, 21 days	K. R. Narayanan
25		Justice Shyamal Kumar Sen (born 1940)	West Bengal	18 May 1999	4 December 1999	200 days
26		Viren J. Shah (1926–2013)	Gujarat	4 December 1999	14 December 2004	5 years, 10 days
27		Gopalkrishna Gandhi IAS (Retd.) (born 1945)	National Capital Territory of Delhi	14 December 2004	14 December 2009	5 years, 0 days	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
28		Devanand Konwar (1934–2020) (Additional Charge)	Assam	14 December 2009	23 January 2010	40 days	Pratibha Patil
29		M. K. Narayanan IPS (Retd.) (born 1934)	Tamil Nadu	24 January 2010	30 June 2014^[‡]	4 years, 157 days	Pratibha Patil
30		D. Y. Patil (born 1935) (Additional Charge)	Maharashtra	3 July 2014	17 July 2014	14 days	Pranab Mukherjee
31		Keshari Nath Tripathi (1934–2023)	Uttar Pradesh	24 July 2014	29 July 2019	5 years, 5 days	Pranab Mukherjee
32		Jagdeep Dhankhar (born 1951)	Rajasthan	30 July 2019	17 July 2022^[‡]^{[lower-greek 4]}	2 years, 352 days	Ram Nath Kovind
33		La. Ganesan (1945–2025) (Additional Charge)	Tamil Nadu	18 July 2022	17 November 2022	122 days	Ram Nath Kovind
34		C. V. Ananda Bose IAS (Retd.) (born 1951)	Keralam	18 November 2022	11 March 2026^[‡]	3 years, 113 days	Droupadi Murmu
35		R. N. Ravi IPS (Retd.) (born 1952)	Bihar	12 March 2026	Incumbent	185 days	Droupadi Murmu

↑ Resigned to become the Governor-General of India
↑ Transferred as the Governor of Punjab
↑ Transferred as the Governor of Orissa
↑ Resigned to become the Vice President of India

References[edit | edit source]

↑ "New Governors in states, UT: TN's Ravi replaces Bose in Bengal ahead of polls, Hasnain for Bihar, Sandhu gets Delhi". The Indian Express. 6 March 2026. Retrieved 6 March 2026.

External links[edit | edit source]

Raj Bhavan's (Governor's residence) official website

[2] Resigned to become the Governor-General of India

[3] Transferred as the Governor of Punjab

[4] Transferred as the Governor of Orissa

[5] Resigned to become the Vice President of India

[1] "New Governors in states, UT: TN's Ravi replaces Bose in Bengal ahead of polls, Hasnain for Bihar, Sandhu gets Delhi". The Indian Express. 6 March 2026. Retrieved 6 March 2026.

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