Education minister Bratya Basu has accused the Bengal governor of appointing “ineligible, unequipped and misfit” candidates as interim vice-chancellors of universities subverting statutory proceedings.
Basu has also accused governor C.V. Ananda Bose of dragging his feet on the appointment of full-term VCs through a search and selection committee. “Where is the search-cum-selection committee?” he asked.
Basu levelled the charges in a written statement two days after the governor asserted his “authority” to appoint VCs in state-aided universities.
On Friday, the minister said “in an attempt to subvert the statutory proceedings, and unilaterally make decisions in the process of appointment of Interim Vice-Chancellors, the Chancellor has failed to consider qualified candidates” who would have added to the Universities’ growth”.
Basu referred to the appointment of “authorised” VCs. He said “the governor went on ‘authorising’, which is a term unknown to the governing statutes, individuals who are ineligible, unequipped and misfit to the various universities, with the sole intention to curtail the statutory role of the State Government and the Minister-in-Charge”.
Basu challenged the governor’s contention that he had the authority to appoint VCs.
“The Report Card (of the governor) conveniently fails to mention that the ‘Interim Vice Chancellors’ were appointed without consultation with the Minister since June 2023, which is in direct contravention” of the process.
“Even if the Chancellor was to disagree with the consultation and proceed differently, the process of consultation cannot be given a go-by on the whims and fancies of the Chancellor,” the minister wrote.
Among those appointed by the governor as officiating VCs are former Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Subhro Kamal Mukherjee (Rabindra Bharati University) and retired Kerala cadre IPS officer M. Wahab (Aliah University).
“The chancellor appointed those who are in no way connected with the university system,” an education department official said.
Referring to the absence of any attempt by the chancellor to appoint full-term VCs, Basu wrote: “The reason why regular appointments are not being made by the Chancellor, and such ‘authorised’ personnel continue to hold the post, is because the Chancellor as per the statute is required to appoint a regular Vice Chancellor on the recommendation of Search cum Selection Committee, but where is the Search cum Selection Committee?”
In May last year, the state government promulgated the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023, following an ascent from the chancellor to constitute a five-member search committee that will include a nominee of the chief minister and recommend a panel of names to the governor for the selection of a VC.
The chancellor, whose nominee will be the chairperson of the search and selection committee, was to choose a VC from the panel.
In August, since the state government filed a special leave petition challenging the chancellor’s authority to appoint officiating VCs bypassing the state government, the Supreme Court is hearing the case.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had gone to Raj Bhavan on December 4 and discussed with Bose ways to solve what she called “pending problems” over the appointment of full-term VCs three days after the Supreme Court asked the governor and the chief minister to sit across the table and thrash out their differences over the appointment of VCs of state universities.
But little seemed to change.
On March 23, Basu alleged that the chancellor was not cooperating with the state government, be it on the appointment of full-term VCs or interim ones.
On April 1, the education department issued an advisory instructing the officiating VCs engaged by the chancellor not to hold any meeting of the decision-making bodies or convocations without approval from the state government. They were also barred from offering the career advancement scheme to teachers.
A day later, the chancellor asserted his authority to appoint VCs.