The Bengal governor has said in a written statement that he has the “authority” to appoint vice-chancellors in state-aided universities and the state government has “no right to interfere with the autonomy” of the universities.
Governor C.V. Ananda Bose said this days after the higher education department issued an advisory barring the universities from holding meetings of their decision-making bodies and convocations without its approval.
The statement, issued on Wednesday night, says: “The chancellor (the governor is the ex officio chancellor of all state-aided universities) being the Head of the University and the appointing authority of the Vice-Chancellor is within his right to correspond or communicate with the Vice-Chancellor directly without routing it through another authority (higher education department).”
It adds: “Nowhere the constituting Act of respective universities prescribe for prior approval from/intimation to the Higher Education Department/Govt. of West Bengal for holding Court/EC/Senate/Syndicate meetings.”
The rules of 2019 are “repugnant to all constituting Acts relating to the State Aided Universities”.
The department cited the rules of 2019 in its advisory.
“A state-funded university does not mean the offering of charity to a university by the state. Here state funding means discharging the constitutional obligation of the state for the cause of higher education,” the governor has said.
The department’s advisory and the chancellor’s response have come amid a tussle between the two over who has the authority to control the affairs of the universities.
The tussle began in June last year after the chancellor started appointing officiating VCs allegedly bypassing the higher education department.
“As regards the appointment of ‘officiating’ VCs, consultation was held. Two names recommended by the State Government were accepted. Consultation does not mean concurrence,” the governor’s statement says.
Education minister Bratya Basu had alleged at a news conference on March 23 that the chancellor was not cooperating with his department, be it on the issue of appointing interim VCs or full-term VCs through a search committee.
A professor in Calcutta University said that since the higher education department has not accepted the legitimacy of the officiating VCs, it has been issuing advisories to curb the activities of the VCs.
“The confrontation has escalated to such a height that the department has asked the officiating VCs not to offer career advancement scheme benefits to the teachers,” the professor said.
The chancellor has slamm-ed the rules based on which Monday’s advisory was issued. “It is seen that the Government refers to the Rules of 2019.
These Rules framed by the Government try to establish a body between the Chancellor and the VC and the VC and the University administration. Such a Rule adversely affects the autonomy of the university,” the statement says.
The rules were framed in 2019, when Jagdeep Dhankhar was governor.
They say that 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”.
WhatsApp calls and text messages from this newspaper to the education minister failed to elicit a response.
The minister had on March 23 accused the governor of triggering stalemate on campuses by not cooperating with the state on VC appointments despite a Supreme Court directive.