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Row over varsity appointments: Bengal govt eyeing legal action against governor
The ruling TMC lashed out at the governor, accusing him of “deliberately adopting a confrontationist approach on behalf of the BJP”
The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government is exploring options to initiate legal action against governor CV Ananda Bose, whom the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused of pressuring state universities to skip a meeting called by the education minister two days back, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
The long-running tussle between the state government and the Raj Bhavan has escalated in the past few weeks after Bose, in his capacity as the chancellor of all 31 state-run universities, recently appointed interim vice-chancellors for 14 varsities, including the prestigious Presidency University, without consulting the government. The positions were lying vacant since May 31 when the tenure of the former V-Cs ended.
The chief minister has severely criticised the move, calling it a bid to interfere with the running of state-administered universities. She even threatened to block funds for universities if they followed the governor’s orders. “If you [governor] interfere in the affairs of any university or, if any university takes orders from you, I will create an economic blockade… Let me see how you pay the salaries of the university staff…” she had said at an event on September 5.
The latest in the ongoing standoff came after registrars of several universities skipped a meeting called by state’s education minister Bratya Basu at his office on Friday to discuss allocation of funds and financial matters.
“We have found some documents which suggest that some of the acting V-Cs asked the registrars of those universities not to attend the meeting,” a senior officer from the higher education department said, requesting anonymity. “The government is consulting lawyers to explore possible legal action against the Raj Bhavan.”
On Friday, Basu had made similar allegations against the governor’s office. “We have information that threats were issued to stop people from attending the meeting. Who is creating an atmosphere of terror? Who is issuing threats?” he told reporters.
Raj Bhavan officials refused to comment on the allegations; they, however, said the governor sent two sealed letters late on Saturday night. A letter each, the officials added, was sent to the state secretariat, Nabanna, and to the Centre.
Neither the Raj Bhavan nor the state government divulged any information on the sealed missive from the governor.
The ruling TMC lashed out at the governor, accusing him of “deliberately adopting a confrontationist approach on behalf of the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party]”.
“The governor is destroying the state’s higher education sector by violating all rules, statutes and constitutional provisions,” TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen told reporters. “Despite the state pointing out the anomalies in his action, he appears nonchalant and has adopted a confrontationist stance because of the support of the BJP.”
BJP state chief Sukanta Majumdar hit back at the ruling party saying the governor was trying to clean up the “mess created by TMC in the higher education sector”.
“The ruling party is humiliating the governor in the most unsavoury manner as it does not like his initiative for improving the education sector. It is not concerned about the fate of students who suffer due to the chaotic situation in several state universities…,” Majumdar told reporters.
