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SC settles row over vcs for 3 Bengal varsities
SC resolved a 30-month dispute between West Bengal's government and Governor over vice chancellors for three universities, finalizing their appointments.
The Supreme Court on Friday brought an end to the row between the West Bengal government and the state Governor by finalising vice chancellors for three among the 36 universities that became a bone of contention between then chancellor and Governor CV Anand Bose and former chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The top court gave its stamp of approval to the three names among a panel prepared by a court-appointed search-cum-selection committee headed by former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit. With this, the top court brought down curtains on the 30-month legal battle that required the court to intervene as the differences between the two constitutional functionaries had adversely affected the functioning of the universities.
Names of professors Dwaipayan Bharadwaj and Rajan Chakrabarti for North Bengal University and Netaji Subhas Open University, respectively, have been finalised from the pool. The third name has not been disclosed yet.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi said, “With the above three appointments, all universities in West Bengal will have regular vice chancellors.”
Attorney general for India (AG) R Venkataramani who appeared for the Governor throughout the proceedings, remarked, “This brings to an end a two-and-a-half year long case concerning 36 universities.”
The three universities - Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, North Bengal University and Netaji Subhas Open University - were the only ones that remained as the former CM and former Governor did not agree on a common name. As in the past when justice Lalit committee helped the court in recommending suitable VCs for the other 33 universities, the court had last year asked the search-cum-selection panel, also comprising domain experts, to suggest a panel of names. The committee’s report was opened in court. While the recommendation for one university was unanimous among the five-member panel, the top court went by the majority rule to pick the VCs for the remaining two varsities.
The court directed the state government to forward these names to the chancellor for approval and to ensure the appointment is carried out within four weeks.
The row over appointment of VCs came to court after the state government filed a petition in 2023 challenging the action of the governor to sit over the names recommended by the state. The petition said that the governor was bound to approve the first name on the panel recommended by the chief minister.
In July 2024, the top court constituted the justice Lalit committee to end the impasse. A panel of experts from different fields were brought in to assist justice Lalit in short-listing the candidates based on merit.
