Jadavpur University submits 3 years' Executive Council resolutions to Bengal education department

KOLKATA: Jadavpur University has submitted details of all resolutions adopted by its Executive Council over the past three years to the West Bengal Higher Education Department, a senior varsity official said on Friday. The information was sent to the department "three days ago" following a request made last month, he said.

The development has triggered questions within the university over whether similar information has been sought from other state universities or whether JU has been singled out.

The Executive Council includes nominees of the Higher Education Department, the Chancellor-governor and the state Finance Department. Its meeting resolutions are already available to these representatives, an EC member said.

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JU members cite concerns over university autonomy

Some members of the university community questioned the need for the administration to furnish the resolutions to the government, citing concerns over institutional autonomy. However, the official said there was nothing unusual about the government seeking such records and that Executive Council resolutions should ideally be available in the public domain.

The issue of making Executive Council decisions public had earlier been raised by the West Bengal University Employees' Association, affiliated with the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which had demanded that universities upload such resolutions on their respective websites to ensure transparency and enable people to know about administrative decisions.

Some members of the left-backed teachers' organisation JUTA questioned whether the government would properly preserve the records, while members of another section said the government was within its rights to seek the information.

Bhaskar Sardar, secretary of the Jadavpur University unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshikh Mahasangh, said making the documents public could provide important information on financial and administrative decisions as well as appointments.

"These documents need to be properly examined and, if necessary, made public. It is important to ensure transparency, accountability and a lawful process in the university's administrative and financial decision-making," he said.