Education minister Bratya Basu on Friday said a communication that governor C.V. Ananda Bose had sent to all state university vice-chancellors in his capacity as chancellor, asking them to send a “weekly activity report” to Raj Bhavan, was “not legally tenable”.
Basu urged the chancellor to withdraw the communication, which he said was issued keeping the education department in the dark.
“This communication from the chancellor is not legally tenable. We are taking legal opinion about this. I will request the chancellor to withdraw the communication. This assails the pride and autonomy of a university,” Basu told a press conference.
In the communication sent on April 4, the chancellor also asked the VCs to contact the chancellor over the phone or through email “on any major issue” and seek prior approval for any decision “which has financial implications”.
“We held joint press conferences on several occasions, in which the department and Raj Bhavan both spoke about working in a spirit of cooperation. This communication is not in keeping with that spirit,” the minister said.
“Saying something else after experiencing something is a sort of crime. We don’t want to enter into any fight with Raj Bhavan.”
An education department official said the letter “came as a jolt” because at the two joint news conferences held on the lawns of Raj Bhavan — on January 27 and February 28 — minister Basu and governor Bose had spoken about working in a spirit of cooperation.
The governor, who was seated next to the minister at the February 28 event, had said: “The litmus test of education is its ability for conflict resolution. We would like to take education to a kind of no-conflict zone.”
The official said a conflict had indeed started with the governor seeking to assert his role as chancellor by sending a communication directly to the VCs and the minister opposing this action.
The education department had in December 2019 come up with West Bengal State Universities (Terms and Conditions of Service of the vice-chancellor & the Manner and Procedure of Official Communication) Rules, pronouncing the department’s primacy in the affairs of a state university.
“Notwithstanding anything contained in any Statutes, Ordinances, and Regulations or in any rules, customs or usages to the contrary for the time being in force, in every case, all communications proposed to be made to the chancellor by the vice-chancellor, of a state-aided university, shall be addressed to the secretary of the department,” the rules say.
“Every communication proposed to be made by the chancellor to any state-aided university shall be routed through the department and action on such communication shall be taken once the same is endorsed by the department.” the rules say.