Bengal cabinet okays bills to replace governor as varsities’ visitor and chancellor

West Bengal is the first state to set in motion such a move, although no legislation can be passed without the governor’s assent.

Kolkata: The West Bengal cabinet on Monday approved two bills to remove governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as chancellor of 17 state-run universities and visitor of the nine private universities -- a move set to further heighten tensions between the state government and Raj Bhavan.

The decisions are being seen as fallout of the long-running confrontation between Jagdeep Dhankhar and the TMC over a host of issues ever since the former took oath in July 2019 (PTI)

These two bills will now be introduced in the monsoon session of the West Bengal legislative assembly, which is likely to witness a showdown between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

West Bengal is the first state to set in motion such a move, although no legislation can be passed without the governor’s assent. TMC ministers have said they may move ordinances if the governor does not clear the bills despite the fact that ordinances, too, need to be cleared by the governor.

Tamil Nadu and Gujarat are the only two states that have passed legislation empowering the state governments to appoint vice-chancellors of state-funded universities but the governors continue as chancellors in both states. Tamil Nadu passed the legislation in April, while the bill was passed in Gujarat in 2015.

The monsoon session will commence on June 10, minister Jyotipriya Mallick said.

The state cabinet decided during back-to-back meetings in May that chief minister Mamata Banerjee will be the chancellor of state-run universities while education minister Bratya Basu will be the visitor of private universities.

Criticised by several educationists, the decisions are being seen as fallout of the long-running confrontation between Dhankhar and the TMC over a host of issues ever since the former took oath in July 2019.

A senior TMC legislator, who asked not to be identified, said the government has consulted legal experts.

“The Constitution of India does not say that governors will be chancellors of state-run universities. It is a non-constitutional position. Since this started as a custom during the British Raj and has continued for around 100 years, the custom has become a rule recognised by all states and their current laws. The Bengal government wants to violate this rule. It has to pass a new law to do that,” said Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay, former principal of Presidency College and an expert on the Constitution.

“Since education is a subject in the Concurrent List, the governor may send the bill to the Cente for consideration. Alternatively, he may send it back to the state government for reconsideration. Also, he may not sign the bill, which will automatically kill it,” Mukhopadhyay added.

While touring north Bengal on May 29, Dhankhar said the move to replace him as chancellor is a ploy to divert attention from the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam that is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the direction of the Calcutta high court.

“Twenty-five vice-chancellors were appointed against law, against the directive of the chancellor who is the governor, and promoting inferior talent dictated by patronage, favouritism and nepotism,” he said on May 29.

Dhankhar also made it clear that the government will not be able to pass the bills easily.

“Who becomes chancellor and whether the role of the governor can be curtailed are things that I will examine when the paper comes to me. This is a ploy, tactics to generate media optics, to divert attention from what is happening in the recruitment scam. It is the mother of all scams,” he said.

The BJP is gearing up to oppose the government’s move.

Leader of the opposition in the Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, has already said that his party will not let the government pass any bill just because it has 217 seats in the 294-strong House.

“Adhikari will hold a meeting with us to discuss our strategy,” Manoj Tigga, the opposition chief whip in the assembly, said.

The SSC recruitments in 2018 will be a burning issue in the coming assembly session, the BJP indicated.

Junior education minister Paresh Adhikari’s daughter has already lost her job as a high school teacher while former education minister and TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee has been questioned by CBI. It is alleged that more than 300 teachers were recruited although none passed the qualifying tests.

The TMC has so far made no attempt to shield its leaders.

“The government will fully cooperate with the CBI. If there have been irregularities, the probe will reveal it,” said TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh.

Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay said that if passed, the bills will expose the universities to political interference.

“I don’t support this. If the chief minister becomes the chancellor, these educational institutions will be under political control. They will lose their independence and autonomy,” he said.