Raj Bhavan worked swiftly to fill up vacancies for VC post in 30 universities: Bengal governor

KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Monday stated that Raj Bhavan, following the resignation of vice chancellors (VCs) in 30 universities in line with a court order, has acted swiftly to fill up these vacancies.

Bose, in a statement, said that the VCs have been granted interim appointment for three months to avoid disruption of academic activities. "The vice chancellors of universities, whose appointments were declared ab initio null and void by the Supreme Court, in order dated October 11 2022...were called to Raj Bhavan and were appraised of the verdict's implications. They gracefully opted to resign, thus, obviating the serving of termination notices. To avoid disruption of university functions, they were granted interim appointments for three months," he said.

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Several college teachers and researchers had filed a PIL in the high court, challenging the extension of the tenure of the VCs of some state-aided universities on the ground that the government had not followed UGC procedures, including obtaining the chancellor’s approval. The VCs had then resigned and got a subsequent extension from the governor.

The move came after the Supreme Court upheld a high court order, scrapping the reappointment of Sonali Chakravorty Banerjee as the VC of Calcutta University Talking about the recent visit of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and education minister Bratya Basu to Raj Bhavan, Bose, who is the chancellor of state universities, said that he has found out from them that many files related to education are awaiting governor’s clearance.

The governor also said that he and Basu had decided during the meeting that spot decisions about certain matters have to be made without further delay. He stated that a summit would soon be held in Bengal to ensure it "regains its past glory in the field of education." Bose asserted that Raj Bhavan will work on "fast track mode" in tune with the aspirations of the new generation.