A state government nominee to Jadavpur University's executive council has in a letter to the pro-vice-chancellor said he should keep in mind that the act governing JU does not allow the chancellor to seek any compliance report from the university.
Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, who is ex-officio chancellor of all state-aided universities in Bengal, had on Thursday written to JU pro-VC Amitabha Datta to ensure that Buddhadeb Sau, whose removal from the post of officiating VC the governor had ordered last month, did not interfere with the university’s administration. Datta was also asked to send a compliance report to Raj Bhavan on the matter.
Manojit Mandal, a JU professor and the state government’s nominee to the executive council, the highest decision-making body of the university, has written in the letter that the pro-VC “should follow the established protocol and legalities while considering any such communication from the office of the chancellor".
The education department, in a communication to the university on Friday, had said Sau could continue to exercise the power and responsibilities of an authorised VC for now.
Mandal, who is the head of the department of English at JU, has said in the emailed communication: "Sir, nowhere in the said Act (Jadavpur University Act) of 1981 or Jadavpur University First Statutes of 1982 any power has been conferred upon the chancellor to seek compliance from or interfere with the administration of the university in any manner whatsoever. Such attempts by the office of the chancellor amounts to clear violation of its governing laws."
"Under these facts and points of laws I urge you to follow established protocols and legalities while considering any such communication from the office of the Chancellor which, on the face of it, appears to be intrusive, illegal and ill-intended," he has written.
Calls and text messages from this newspaper to the pro-VC failed to elicit any response.
The chancellor had ordered Sau's removal as officiating VC on December 23, after the university decided to go ahead with the annual convocation disregarding an instruction from Raj Bhavan to keep the event in abeyance. The convocation was held the next day.
In a communication to the pro-VC on Thursday evening, the chancellor instructed him to ensure that Sau "does not exercise any unauthorised authority in the administration of the university".
An official in the chancellor's secretariat wrote in the letter: "I am further directed to request you to send a compliance report by return".
Mandal told The Telegraph: "In my communication to the pro-VC, I have also mentioned that the Rules 2019 framed under West Bengal Colleges and Universities (Administration and Regulations) Act 2017 state that every communication proposed to be made by the chancellor to any state-aided university will be routed through the state higher education department and any action on such communication will be taken once it is endorsed by the department."
"Since the chancellor has directly written to the university (pro-VC), this violates rules. Therefore, the pro-VC should consider the issue of legality before sending any response to the chancellor. Besides, as the department has clarified that Buddhadeb Sau will keep officiating as VC, there is nothing to communicate."