West Bengal minister says Raj Bhavan acting in 'dictatorial' manner after Guv appoints interim VCs

KOLKATA: A day after West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose appointed interim vice-chancellors of seven state universities, Education Minister Bratya Basu, in a strong reaction on Monday, accused the Raj Bhavan of acting in a "dictatorial manner" and claimed that the move could "destroy" the university system.

The minister also said the governor's move was "violative of the bill passed by the state assembly, concerning the roles and functions of the governor as the chancellor of varsities and the state government".

The governor, in his capacity as the chancellor of state-run universities, had on Sunday night appointed interim vice-chancellors for seven universities, including the prestigious Presidency University, MAKAUT and the University of Burdwan.

"The governor's recent action is aimed at bankrupting the higher education system. He is destroying the statutes of respective state universities. Such appointments have been made without consulting anybody. He is acting in a dictatorial manner," Basu said while addressing a press conference here.

"The governor, who is the chancellor of state universities as per law, cannot violate and cross the boundary. We will not remain silent spectators to such action by the governor," he said. In a missive to Raj Bhavan on Monday evening, the Higher Education Department said, "In the event of the hon'ble Chancellor wanting to make any communication to any state-aided university, the same must be routed through the department of higher education but the circulars have not been routed through the department recently."

"The communication should also not have been issued from the governor's secretariat or have been signed by the senior special secretary to the governor of West Bengal as the Chancellor is a creature of the statute and does not exercise any power as a Governor when acting as Chancellor of a university and such senior special secretary cannot represent the chancellor," it said.

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'Adventurous and illegal' action

A group of educationists, including former vice-chancellors of state universities, described the action by the governor to appoint interim VCs in several varsities as "adventurous and illegal". The Educationists' Forum also said such appointments "will not do any good to the higher education system of the state".

"The governor becomes overactive whenever we hold press meets and talk about the situation in state universities where no VCs are at the helm. He is not acting as per statutes. His action is adventurous and illegal," former VC of North Bengal University and spokesperson of the forum Om Prakash Mishra told PTI.

Mishra also alleged that the "governor continues to persist in his adventurous and illegal activities to dismantle higher education system, management and leadership". Prof Raj Kumar Kothari has been appointed Interim VC of West Bengal State University, while Justice Subhrakamal Mukherjee, who currently holds interim charge of Rabindra Bharati University, will also be Interim VC of Presidency University.

Prof Debabrata Basu has been appointed Interim VC of Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, while Prof Tapan Chanda was appointed Interim VC of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology. Prof Gautam Chakraborty has been given charge of University of Burdwan, and Prof Indrajit Lahiri will take charge as Interim VC of Netaji Subhas Open University. Prof Shyam Sundar Dana was appointed Interim VC of West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences.

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Sources said the interim vice-chancellors of nine other universities have also been finalised and appointment letters "will be issued soon". The governor took the decision to "mitigate the problems faced by students", they said. The criteria for selection of the interim vice-chancellors were eligibility, suitability, competence, willingness and desirability, the sources added.

The education minister had, last week, said the government wanted to have a discussion with the governor but if "he continues in this way by appointing VCs, we will take legal action". The minister was then referring to the governor's earlier statement that he would administer the roles of VCs of the 16 universities lying headless after the expiry of the term of permanent VCs there.

Reacting to the appointment of VCs, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty alleged that the governor was "appointing people who have links with the RSS as interim VCs". However, senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha said the governor has done the "right thing" as he cannot allow the uncertainty, arising out of the absence of VCs, to continue and see the students suffer".