Governor C.V. Ananda Bose said in a statement on Sunday that the state government cannot interfere with the autonomy of state-aided universities and convened an emergency meeting of all officiating vice-chancellors.
The statement from the office of the governor, who is ex officio chancellor of all state-aided universities, came in the wake of Jadavpur University holding its annual convocation on Sunday following a communication from the higher education department.
The chancellor said he is seeking legal opinion on whether he can grant
“post facto approval” to the convocation because otherwise, the degrees awarded to the students would become invalid.
“Chancellor wants to avoid that,” says the statement.
The statement was issued a day after he removed JU’s officiating VC Buddhadeb Sau, alleging that the VC was holding an unauthorised convocation.
“As per UGC regulations and the Supreme court judgements, Government cannot interfere with the autonomy of the universities…. Education Ministry (department) is trying to destroy the autonomy of the universities flouting Supreme Court Judgements,” the statement says.
The chancellor sought to convey a message that the removal of the VC did not mean that he was attempting to cause any inconvenience to the students by canceling the convocation.
“In JU Chancellor removed the interim VC because he violated the law.... Chancellor did not cancel the convocation respecting the requests from the students. Chancellor has sought expert legal opinion whether he can grant post facto approval to the convocation, otherwise the degrees will become invalid,” the statement says.
The statement mentioned the fact that the UGC chairman, who had been invited to be guest-in-chief of the convocation, stayed away from the event.
On Saturday night, a statement from the governor’s office said the expenses to be incurred on the “unauthorised convocation” would be recovered from the salary of the VC and others responsible.
When Sau was asked about this on Sunday, he said: “If he wants to recover it from my salary, so be it.”
Education minister Bratya Basu denied the allegation that his department was interfering with JU’s autonomy.
“There was no question of interfering with the autonomy. After JU’s officiating VC was removed on Saturday evening, he approached the department seeking to know what could be done. Then we wrote to the JU registrar about what could be done…. According to a Supreme Court verdict, the chancellor cannot appoint or remove any VC. What he (the governor) has done is illegal,” said Basu.