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Amid appointment row, Bengal governor slams ‘corrupt’ V-Cs
The functioning of state-run universities has been a bone of contention between the ruling Trinamool Congress and Raj Bhavan since 2019
Some people, whose names were proposed by the West Bengal government to be appointed as vice-chancellors (V-Cs) of state-run universities were corrupt, others were accused of harassing female students and some others were playing political games, governor CV Ananda Bose said on Thursday, firing the latest shot in an ongoing scrap between him and the state government.
The governor also claimed some V-Cs of state-run universities resigned after they were threatened by goons and came under pressure from senior bureaucrats.
“Do you want to know why I could not appoint the V-Cs from the list of names proposed by the state government? This is a fact that some were corrupt, some were accused of harassing female students and some were playing political games,” Bose said in a recorded video message in Bengali.
He added that while the West Bengal government had appointed V-Cs in state universities the Supreme Court declared the government’s actions were illegal, referring to the top court’s decision taken in October last year where it upheld a Calcutta high court verdict setting aside the reappointment of the vice-chancellor of Calcutta University. The apex court had said that the West Bengal government had chosen an incorrect path under the law to “usurp” the power of the chancellor, who is the governor of the state.
“The V-Cs had to resign. Now who would become the V-C? Under such circumstances as the chancellor of state-run universities I appointed interim V-Cs. The state education department said it was wrong. But the Calcutta high court said I was right,” he added.
He also said that at least five V-Cs had to resign after they were threatened by goons intimidated by the state education department and pressurized by senior IAS officers.
“This is what the V-C’s told me in confidence before they resigned. I did not ask anyone to resign. They resigned out of fear. It is very unfortunate that five V-Cs had to resign,” he said.
“Does he have any proof of what he is claiming or is he making some irresponsible political statements? In that case he should start getting into politics from the BJP’s office. Why is he in Raj Bhavan spending public money? The V-Cs resigned because of the Governor’s attitude and steps. He is running a Tughlaq- Raj in appointing interim V-Cs. No one knows from where he got the names of interim V-Cs. Some of the appointees have no relation to the education system,” Jay Prakash Majumdar, TMC state vice president, told the media.
Earlier this week 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.
Later West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee threatened to block funds to state-run universities if they dared follow the orders of Bose and warned of a sit-in protest outside Raj Bhavan.
The functioning of state-run universities has been a bone of contention between the ruling Trinamool Congress and Raj Bhavan since 2019, when former governor Jagdeep Dhankhar (now the country’s vice president) 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.
