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Bengal Governor to be acting V-C of 14 varsities; minister hints at legal steps
In a statement, Raj Bhavan informed the governor’s decision to discharge the duty of the V-Cs himself till new interim ones are appointed
West Bengal governor C V Ananda Bose, who is the chancellor of all 31 state-run universities, has decided to assume the role of acting vice-chancellor (V-C) of 14 varsities where the post is currently lying vacant, a move that is likely to further strain ties between the Raj Bhavan and Mamata Banerjee-led government.
In a statement, Raj Bhavan informed the governor’s decision to discharge the duty of the V-Cs himself till new interim ones are appointed, triggering a sharp reaction from state education minister Bratya Basu who alleged Bose was acting arbitrarily, and threatened to take the legal route if the appointments of V-Cs were made without the state’s consent.
In its statement on Thursday, the governor’s office said: “It is observed that students of a few state universities in West Bengal where the V-C posts are vacant are facing difficulties in obtaining degree certificates and other documents. To provide them relief, Hon’ble Governor of WB in his capacity as the Chancellor has decided to discharge the duties of the V-Cs in these Universities till new interim VCs are appointed…”
Reacting to the notification, Basu on Friday said: “How can the governor be the chancellor and vice-chancellor of a university at the same time? We have no idea under which law he is making these decisions.”
He added: “The governor is acting on his own, without bothering to consult a democratically elected government. We will be compelled to take legal recourse if these continue.”
Basu said even chief minister Mamata Banerjee was not consulted on the matter. “Even chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is in office for the third consecutive term, was not consulted. This is an insult to a people’s representative. But we have a sense of courtesy. We would surely like to have a discussion with the governor on these issues,” he said.
There was no immediate reaction from Raj Bhavan on the minister’s comments till Friday night.
The tenure of V-Cs of 29 varsities ended last year and were extended till March 31 this year. The government subsequently started the process of forming search committees to select new incumbents.
The functioning of state-run universities has always been a bone of contention between the ruling Trinamool Congress and Raj Bhavan since 2019, when former governor Jagdeep Dhankhar assumed charge.
In June, Bose appointed senior professors from 13 universities as V-Cs allegedly without consulting the state government, which, in return, held their salaries on the ground that they were not recruited by the education department.
The governor, however, continued with the appointments and in July, picked retired chief justice of Karnataka high court, Subhro Kamal Mukherjee, as acting V-C of Kolkata’s Rabindra Bharati University and a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from Kerala, M Wahab, as acting V-C of Kolkata’s Aliah University.
The former judge was appointed through an order passed by Raj Bhawan on July 4 while the appointment of the retired IPS officer was cleared on July 21. Both orders were again passed allegedly without any consultation with the state government.