Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, who is ex-officio chancellor of state-aided universities, has not appointed an interim vice-chancellor in any of the eight universities where the VC’s post fell vacant on June 9.
The chancellor — who had appointed 11 interim VCs allegedly unilaterally on June 1, triggering protests from education minister Bratya Basu — has not yet acted with respect to these eight, said an official in the education department.
A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in Calcutta High Court against the chancellor’s decision to appoint 11 interim VCs without consulting the education department and in alleged contravention of the West Bengal State Universities (Terms and Conditions of Service of the Vice Chancellor & the Manner and Procedure of Official Communication) Rules, 2019.
Among the 11 universities that got interim VCs are Calcutta and Jadavpur Universities.
The registrar of one of the eight universities said the stalemate on appointment of interim VCs, following the fight between Raj Bhavan and Bikash Bhavan (the education secretariat) over who enjoys authority in making such appointments, has created an administrative deadlock and been delaying policy decisions.
“Decisions on the roll-out of the four-year undergraduate programme and increasing the number of undergraduate seats, to offset the fallout of the introduction of reservation for underprivileged general category students, cannot be made without a VC,” the registrar said.
The VC’s post in the eight universities, including Rabindra Bharati University, fell vacant on June 9 after the extended tenure of those at the helm ended on June 8.
“The governor had extended the tenure of all eight VCs by three months. The tenure came to an end on June 8,” said an education department official.
“Since no appointment has been made by the chancellor since June 8, we are suspecting he is not taking any decision because of the PIL filed against the earlier appointments. But this has created a stalemate because no major policy can be adopted in the absence of a VC,” he said.
Calls, text messages and emails from this newspaper to chancellor Bose failed to elicit any response.
Education minister Basu told Metro in a text message: “The matter is being examined by the honourable court.”
The registrar of another university said: “The introduction of the four-year undergraduate programme, in compliance with the UGC’s recommendations, requires deliberations on creating adequate infrastructure. Ahead of the roll-out of the four-year course, decision-making bodies need to meet. Only a VC can convene and conduct meetings of such bodies.”
The 11 interim VCs, appointed allegedly without consulting the education department, will not “draw pay and allowance applicable to the VC of a state-aided university”, the department said on Monday.
The appointment of these VCs cannot be accepted as valid and “therefore the state government does not accord the financial sanction with regard to pay and allowance for the position of VC", the department said in an order.
“Since the issue of legality has arisen, it's difficult for the chancellor to make any further appointment unless the court resolves the matter,” said a senior official in the education department.
But why is the education department not taking steps for the appointment of full-term VCs through five-member search committees? The chancellor had last month promulgated an ordinance for the setting up of five-member search committees for shortlisting candidates for the post of VC.
“A case has been filed challenging the decision because the search committee has a nominee of the chief minister. The petitioner has contended that the inclusion of the chief minister’s nominee is bad in law,” said a source in Calcutta High Court.