The governor is yet to announce the names of the interim vice-chancellors for six state-aided universities from the panel of six academics sent to him by the higher education department on Wednesday.
The governor, the ex-officio chancellor of state-aided universities, in a statement on Friday, said: “Education Ministry has gone back on its aggressive path of appointing VCs on their own and tweeting the information to the incumbent VCs and the public.”
The education department sent the names of six university professors to be appointed as interim VCs a day after the attorney-general, representing the chancellor, told the Supreme Court that vacancies in the posts of vice-chancellors in six universities would be filled with candidates from a list recommended by the state government.
“Today Sr. Special Secretary, Higher Education Deptt. has requested the Chancellor to appoint interim VCs based on the consensus arrived at between the Hon’ble Governor and Hon’ble Chief Minister at the behest of the Supreme Court of India. Of the 31 list of professors suggested by the Government for appointment as interim VCs. The Chancellor has accepted six names and rejected the rest. Of the six, the Chancellor will appoint interim VCs in the vacant universities,” reads the Raj Bhavan statement issued on Friday.
This newspaper called Raj Bhavan for clarifications on the statement.
A Raj Bhavan official said: “The chancellor sought to convey that the government could not decide on its own who is going to be appointed as interim VC. The department can recommend names. However, selecting a person as VC is the prerogative of the chancellor. Which is why the chancellor objected to the department announcing the names of six VCs.”
Education Bratya Basu posted on X handle on Friday night: “If some of the names recommended by the state government has been rejected by the chancellor, then the chancellor should request for more names form the state government. It is the spirit of stand taken by the Ld. Attorney General and upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. I am endorsing this stand and am at a loss to understand where have I rolled back! # googly!"
The chancellor has invited the six academics who he has selected from the list of 31 for “an interaction about the VC selection process” on Saturday.
Bhaskar Gupta, a professor of electronics and telecommunication engineering at Jadavpur University who was recommended by the government for the post of interim VC at JU, is among those who got the invitation.
“The remaining five has been chosen from the list of 31 professors that was sent by the state government in January,” a source said.
The department had recommended the names of Asutosh Ghosh (for Rani Rashmoni Green University in Hooghly); Prem Poddar (for Darjeeling Hills University in Darjeeling); Amiya Kumar Panda (for Sadhu Ram Chand Murmu University in Jhargram); Pabitra Chattopadhyay (for Gour Banga University in Malda); and Tapan Kumar Biswas (for Harichand Guruchand University in North 24-Parganas).
None of them has been invited to Raj Bhavan, said the source.
The chancellor said in a statement on Wednesday night: “No direction by Supreme Court that Chancellor should appoint Government’s nominees as Vice Chancellors”.