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WB Guv appoints varsity V-C at midnight after Mamata’s threat to block funds
The late night appointment was made after CM Mamata Banerjee threatened to block funds to state-run universities if they followed the Governor’s orders
Escalating the ongoing face-off with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal, Governor CV Ananda Bose appointed the interim vice-chancellor of Kanyashree University after Tuesday midnight, officials said.
The late night appointment came hours after state chief minister Mamata Banerjee threatened to block funds to state-run universities if they followed the orders of the Governor and warned of a sit-in protest outside Raj Bhavan.
A statement issued by the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata, fifteen minutes past midnight said that the Governor, who is the chancellor of all state-run universities in West Bengal, appointed Professor Kajal De as the V-C (officiating) of Kanyashree University in district of Nadia.
Earlier in the day, while addressing a government programme to celebrate Teacher’s Day, Banerjee said: “If you interfere with any university or if any university or college takes your order, I will create economic obstructions. Tit for tat. No compromise. Let me see how you pay the salaries of university staff. We never interfere in the education system”.
The ongoing controversy in West Bengal is part of a broader trend of similar face-offs between governors and state governments in non-BJP ruled states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Bihar over running of state-controlled universities.
The state governments are opposed to the governor playing a proactive role in running universities and say the governor is only a nominal head of the universities.
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Banerjee made the statement three days after Raj Bhavan issued a circular saying that university officials were not mandated to take direct orders from the state government or execute it without the knowledge and consent of the vice chancellor.
The functioning of state-run universities has been an area of contention between the ruling Trinamool Congress and Raj Bhavan since 2019 when former governor Jagdeep Dhankhar assumed charge.
Bose, who is chancellor of all state-run universities, recently drew the ire of the TMC government by deciding to be acting vice-chancellor (VC) of 14 universities where the posts were lying vacant.
The Kanyashree university was established in 2020 and is located in Krishnangar, the main city in Nadia district, some 100 km from Kolkata.
