A forum of former vice-chancellors and university teachers has alleged that the Bengal governor is continuing his “illegal actions” by “authorising/ removing/replacing” his appointees as officiating VCs in various universities even when the entire issue is pending before the Supreme Court.
The platform stated in a press release on Tuesday that the state government had filed a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court to stop the ad-hoc manner in which governor C.V. Ananda Bose is authorising “various underqualified handpicked persons of his choice” to “exercise the power and perform the duties of VC bypassing the established laws on the subject”
“Since none of the state Acts on administration and regulations of universities has been set aside by the high court or the Supreme Court, in what capacity is the chancellor denying and defying the legal provisions?” asked Omprakash Mishra, former interim VC of North Bengal University.
On September 27, the apex court asked the lawyer appearing for the state, the Bengal governor and the UGC whether they would like to recommend names other than the ones they had already suggested for inclusion in a court-appointed search committee for the appointment of full-term VCs.
“Just four days after the order the Bengal governor, in his capacity as ex-officio chancellor of state-aided universities, appointed six persons as officiating VCs. One of them is a retired IPS officer. The chancellor is seeking to cripple the education system through these erratic appointments,” said a member of the forum.
Calls, an email, and a text message from this newspaper to chancellor Bose failed to yield any response.
The forum, which has been vocal about the authority of the chancellor ever since he started appointing officiating VCs, held a news conference on Tuesday at Indumati Sabhagriha on the Jadavpur University campus.
“Jadavpur University had two officiating VCs in three months. The North Bengal University had three in three months. The chancellor has turned the post of VC into a musical chair of sorts,” said another member of the forum.
Metro reported last Thursday that the Supreme Court took exception to a remark made by a counsel for the governor that as the chancellor of state universities, C.V. Ananda Bose had to intervene and appoint VCs because the state was being “destroyed” by the state government.
Education minister Bratya Basu said on Sunday: “As the Supreme Court is hearing the case, we would definitely seek to know from the Supreme Court whether such acts (the decision to appoint officiating VCs) was legally tenable.”
The apex court will hear the case on October 6.