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Mamata warns of tit-for-tat action if varsities take governor’s order
Mamata Banerjee threatened to block funds to state-run universities and warned of a sit-in protest outside Raj Bhavan
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday threatened to block funds to state-run universities if they dared follow the orders of governor CV Ananda Bose and warned of a sit-in protest outside Raj Bhavan .
“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,” Banerjee said while addressing a government program to celebrate Teachers’ Day.
The chief minister directed senior bureaucrats of her administration to gear up for an all-out legal battle against the Raj Bhavan. There was no response from the Raj Bhavan.
“Please take care. We have to fight this battle all out. And if it turns out that there is interference in the federal structure, I will be forced to stage a dharna outside the Governor-house. I won’t allow the education system to collapse,” she added.
Happenings in West Bengal are part of a trend of confrontation between governors and state governments in non-BJP ruled states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Bihar over running of the state universities. The state governments are opposed to governors playing a proactive role in running universities and say the governor is only a nominal head of the universities.
Banerjee’s statement came 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 governor appoints the vice chancellor.
“We make the policies and fund the universities and he will give orders? Have you ever heard that the vice-chancellor of a university is appointed after midnight superseding 16 others? An IPS officer from Kerala was appointed the V-C of a university. A former judge was appointed the V-C of another university. I know him because he was my classmate during my Masters,” she said while adding that a man who is not a cook is being asked to prepare biriyani.
The functioning of state-run universities has been a bone of contention between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) 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.
“An injured tiger is more dangerous than a healthy tiger. Today you are attacking us. But will you be able to stand the retaliation? Please wait and watch. We will take legal recourse,” the chief minister said.
