Bengal assembly limits governor’s role

HT Correspondent

HT Correspondent

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letters@hindustantimes.com

Kolkata: Relations between West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and the state’s All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) government took a turn for the worse on Tuesday when the latter curtailed the governor’s powers as chancellor of state universities through a set of new rules.

This happened on a day TMC law makers in the Rajya Sabha demanded Dhankar’s removal and staged a walkout.

The Bengal governor is chancellor of all state universities by default with Visva Bharati, a Central university, being the sole exception. Ever since he assumed office on July 30, Dhankhar and the TMC government have been at war, with chief minister Mamata Banerjee going as far as to call him “an agent” of the Centre.

The government on Tuesday tabled in the assembly, the West Bengal State Universities (Terms and Conditions of Service of the Vice Chancellor & the Manner and Procedure of Official Communication) Rules, 2019 in the West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Administration and Regulation) Act, 2017,curbing the governor’s role as chancellor of state-run universities.

The rules, notified in the gazette, abolished the chancellor’s secretariat, reduced his role in choosing vice-chancellors, and took away his power to convene meetings of the highest bodies of the universities or take action against vice-chancellors. Ironically, the rules were notified in the name of the governor since he is the constitutional head of the state.

“In case of appointment of the vice chancellor of a university, the chancellor shall maintain the order of preference of names placed before him,” read the notification. Till now, the government used to send three names to the governor who was free to choose any one.

The rules effectively make the higher education department, the chancellor’s secretariat. The rule says that every communication to be made by the chancellor (governor) to any state-aided university shall be routed through the department and action on such communication shall be taken once the same is endorsed by the department.

The rules also say that meetings of the university senate/ court, the syndicate/ executive council , the governing board , or of any other bodies or authorities of the university shall be convened by the vice chancellor with an intimation to the department, which may intimate the chancellor for record.

“Any complaint received by the chancellor regarding the affairs of any state-aided university shall be forwarded to the department and the department, if deems fit, may cause an enquiry or investigation on such complaint and may recommend appropriate action to be taken in this regard as per procedure prescribed in rule,” the rules said.

CPI(M)’s Sujan Chakraborty who is leader of the Left parties in the Assembly, said: “The rules relating to universities has literally turned these institutions into extended offices of the government. Since these were placed in the assembly as rules there is no provision for debate or the governor’s assent.”

Dhankhar said, “I am not aware of that and hence cannot comment.”

Tuesday also witnessed TMC legislators staging agitation near B R Ambedkar’s statue in the assembly and alleging that Dhankhar unnecessarily withheld a bill relating to formation of a state commission for scheduled castes and tribes. Dhankhar shot back by writing a letter to assembly speaker Biman Banerjee saying that after receiving the bill last month he wanted to know from the government why the commission was necessary as national commissions for SCs and STs were already functional but did not get any reply till Tuesday.

“I am neither a rubber stamp nor a post office. I will fight it out. I am concerned about welfare of SCs and STs. Those who are shedding crocodile tears (for the bill) should do some introspection. Even chief minister Mamata Banerjee will feel bad when she comes to know why the bill was delayed,” said Dhankhar.

“The fact that the governor’s letter (to the speaker) was released to the media shows what role the governor is actually playing. People are not blind” said TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee, who is also the state’s parliamentary affairs minister.

The speaker adjourned the session on December 4 and 5, saying crucial bills scheduled to be placed in the House were not cleared by the governor.

Biswanath Chakraborty, a professor of political science at Rabindra Bharati University, said: “This is like chopping off the head to cure headache. Undoubtedly, there are some problems with the Governor’s unusually proactive role but instead of trying to look for a way out, the government chose to altogether undermine the role of the Governor, which is important in providing checks and balances.”