Education minister Bratya Basu on Saturday accused the governor of “keeping the stalemate alive” on campuses so higher education in the state was adversely affected.
He said the governor, who is the ex-officio chancellor of state universities, could have solved the problem either by signing a bill that has been drafted to appoint full-term vice-chancellors through a search-cum-selection committee or a bill that seeks to make the chief minister chancellor of state universities.
“Had he signed the bill that was passed in the Assembly to appoint a full-term VC through a five-member search-cum-selection committee or the bill that seeks to make the chief minister the chancellor of the universities instead of the governor, the impasse could have come to an end within a minute,” the minister told reporters.
“But he wants to keep the stalemate alive, he wants to keep the fire smouldering, so higher education in the state is adversely affected.”
Basu said the chancellor had himself “proposed” the constitution of the search committee, following which an ordinance was promulgated in May last year.
On August 4, 2023, the Assembly passed the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment Ordinance) 2023 to facilitate the appointment of full-term VCs to state-aided universities, which are now helmed by officiating VCs.
Basu said the Supreme Court was the last resort. “Let the Supreme Court say that he (the chancellor) will run unconstitutionally or let them give a verdict that the chancellor will look after the campuses. The chancellor is now trying to say that he will control the 31 universities that have been developed by the state government,” the minister said.
“In that case, we will raise this demand later that the salary of the university teachers, paid by the state government for obvious reasons, henceforth be taken care of by the chancellor.”
The state government, in a special leave petition before the apex court, challenged Bose’s authority to appoint officiating VCs unilaterally and the Supreme Court is hearing the case.
The minister was speaking amid a turf war between Raj Bhavan and Bikash Bhavan — the education secretariat — over who has control over the affairs of the universities.
The chancellor said in a written statement on Wednesday that he had the “authority” to appoint VCs to state-aided universities and the state government had “no right to interfere with the autonomy” of the universities. The statement came after the higher education department issued an advisory barring the universities helmed by officiating VCs from holding meetings of their decision-making bodies and convocations without government approval.
Basu said the authorised VCs, who had been appointed by the chancellor allegedly bypassing the education department, are at the heart of the trouble on university campuses.
“I am in agreement with the chancellor that anarchy is prevailing on the university campuses. The anarchy has been created because of the persons he appointed as VCs,” Basu said.
What the minister said on Saturday was an extension of what he had said on Friday to counter the chancellor’s written statement released on Wednesday.
Basu on Friday accused the Bengal governor of appointing “ineligible, unequipped and misfit” candidates as interim VCs of universities subverting statutory proceedings and dragging his feet on the appointment of full-term VCs through a search and selection committee.
Asked for a reaction on Saturday, the chancellor’s office said in an emailed statement: “Your mail is received and is being examined.”
The minister said they were still open to having a dialogue with the chancellor “to bring an end to the impasse as directed by the Supreme Court”.
Basu met the governor on March 12. A day later, education secretary Manish Jain went to Raj Bhavan to hold discussions with attorney-general R. Venkatramani.
An official of the education department said Basu went with names of university professors who could be appointed interim VCs in consultation with the chancellor.
“I met him. He gave his concurrence. Thereafter, he is saying something else. Those sitting above him are trying to instigate him. I will say we have to look forward to the Supreme Court,” Basu said.