West Bengal assembly passes bill to institute CM as chancellor of veterinary university

KOLKATA: The West Bengal Assembly on Wednesday passed a bill to replace Governor Jagdeep Dhankar with chief minister Mamata Banerjee as the chancellor of a veterinary university. Introducing the Bill in the Assembly, the minister-in-charge of the animal husbandry department Swapan Debnath said it will pave way for West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences to move up the ranks.

According to the bill, the chancellor will appoint a distinguished academic as the vice-chancellor of the university out of a panel of three names recommended by a committee constituted by the state government. It also said that the VC should hold office for a term of four years or till he attains the age of 70 years.

Opposition BJP members said that this move will politicise the academic environment of the university. They also claimed that the move was detrimental to the interests of students. During the day, panchayat minister Pulak Roy told the Assembly that the Centre, since the start of the current financial year, has stopped giving funds to West Bengal under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).

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Replying to a query, he said that the Centre owes Rs 7,000 crore to the state under various schemes, including Prime Minister Awas Yojana. On Tuesday, a bill was passed in the House to appoint education minister Bratya Basu as the visitor of private universities in the state, replacing the governor. A day earlier, the Assembly had cleared another bill that also sought to replace the governor with the CM as chancellor of state-run universities.