Hon'ble Dr. A. K. Chanda
Member(A)

Born on August 6, 1953, Dr. Anup Kumar Chanda passed Higher Secondary Examination of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, with Science, in 1969 securing 10th Position in the Board in order of merit. Thereafter, he joined the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata and received his B. Stat (Hons.) and M. Stat. Degree there, with specialization in Econometrics and Operations Research, in 1973 and 1974 respectively. Throughout his stay at ISI, he received Outstanding Student Prize in every examination held by the Institute. Thereafter, for a short while, he joined the Centre for Economic Studies, Presidency College, Kolkata and later joined the Economic Research Unit of ISI as a Research Fellow.

Dr. Chanda joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1976 and was allotted to West Bengal cadre. At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, he was awarded the Director's Medal for obtaining the highest marks in law.

In August, 1981, Dr. Chanda was awarded the prestigious Graduate Council Fellowship by the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA to pursue Ph.D. Program in Economics. In a rare feat, he received his Ph. D. in Econometrics within two years and eight months only (April, 1984). His Dissertation is titled " Econometrics of Disequilibrium and Rational Expectations". He also obtained the highest possible CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) of 4.0 based on his entire performance during the Ph.D. program.

As the most outstanding Graduate student in Economics, Dr. Chanda was awarded Rafael Lusky Prize by the University of Florida (1981-82). Based on his scholastic achievement, he was invited in 1984 to be a Member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, USA, established in 1897, to recognize and encourage superior scholarship.

Dr. Chanda has served both State and the Central Govt. in various capacities. He was a member of the Tripartite Indian Delegation to the 73rd International Labour Conference, Geneva, led by the Hon'ble Union Labour Minister, in 1987. In 1988, he attended the Ninth ILO Tripartite Industrial Committee Meeting on Plantation Labour at Geneva and chaired the Sub-Committee to draft the ILO Convention on Plantation Labour. He also served as a Consultant to ILO on the subject of wages. In 1989, he served as Secretary of the historic Bipartite Committee to draft a new Industrial Relations law in India, set up by the Govt. of India.

Later, he was associated with the Ministry of Shipping for the period from June, 2002 to June, 2009 as Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust and later also served as Chairman of the Indian Port Association (2007-09). He was Chief Editor of the national level journal titled "Indian Ports" (2004-2009). He represented India at the 5th Asia Oceania Regional Meeting at Busan, South Korea (2004) and at the 26th World Port Conference at Genoa, Italy (2009) organised by the International Association of Port and Harbours.

At the State level, Dr. Chanda has served as Special Secretary, Power Department, Chairman, Durgapur Projects Limited, Secretary Consumer Affairs Department, Principal Secretary, Technical Education & Training Department, Additional Chief Secretary, Micro & Small-Scale Enterprises and Textiles Department and also as Director General, Administrative Training Institute.

Dr. Chanda is credited with the decorative illumination of the iconic "Rabindra Setu" (erstwhile 'Howrah Bridge') in November, 2006. He also set up the "Kolkata Port Heritage Center" as well as the first and the only "Maritime Archive" in Kolkata.

He joined the West Bengal Administrative Tribunal as Member (Administrative) on 1st November, 2013.