Bengal governor appoints officiating vice-chancellor of another university amid row

KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose has appointed the interim VC of another state-run university amid a row over his move to appoint such officials in universities that have remained headless for months.

Bose on Tuesday night announced the name of Professor Kajal De as the officiating VC of the newly established Kanyashree University. His announcement came just hours after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's blistering attack against him during a Teachers' Day programme, where she accused him of interfering in the state's education system, and threatened to sit on a dharna outside Raj Bhavan if the governor continued to function in this manner.

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"Hon'ble Chancellor today appointed Prof Kajal De Vice Chancellor (officiating) of Kanyashree University, West Bengal," the Raj Bhavan said in a statement. De was discharging her duties as the interim VC of Diamond Harbour Women's University since March after being appointed by Bose. She was a professor of mathematics at Netaji Subhas Open University.

On Sunday night, Bose had appointed the officiating VCs of seven universities, including Presidency University, MAKAUT and Burdwan University. Attacking Bose over the matter, Banerjee had on Tuesday alleged that the governor was appointing interim VCs according to his whims by ignoring the state-appointed search committee.

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Noting that VCs must be picked from the names suggested by the five-member search committee, she alleged that Bose was appointing people at his will with no regard to the suggestions of the panel. She had promised a 'tit-for-tat' action, and threatened to block funding to all universities that followed the governor's directions. "I will see how you give salaries to these vice-chancellors," she had said.