The chief minister will be the chancellor of all state universities, including those under the agriculture department, animal resources development and the health department, the Mamata Banerjee cabinet announced on Monday.
A bill to that effect will be tabled in the Assembly during the monsoon session, sources at Nabanna said.
The state cabinet had on May 26 decided that the chief minister, instead of the governor, would be the chancellor of all universities under the higher education department, the sources said.
Monday’s meeting decided that the universities under the three other departments, too, will have the chief minister as chancellor.
Once the amendments are enacted, the chief minister will also helm the West Bengal University of Health Sciences, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences and Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya.
The cabinet has also decided that the private universities will have the education minister, and not the governor, as “Visitor”.
All these roles are now performed by the governor.
“The cabinet had already taken a decision to make the chief minister chancellor of the state universities. Today, the cabinet gave its final seal of approval,” education minister Bratya Basu said at Bikash Bhavan, headquarters of the state education department.
Following the creation of several private universities after Trinamul came to power in May 2011, it was decided that the governor would be the “Visitor”.
His functions included awarding degrees at convocations and holding discussions with representatives of the universities.
Sources in the education department said the government started mulling the changes after a tweet from governor Jagdeep Dhankhar in December 2021 that said: “Education scenario @MamataOfficial worrisome as no Chancellor & VC of Pvt Univ turned up for meeting with Governor-Visitor. Shocking unionism.”
Dhankhar had called the chancellors and vice-chancellors of private universities twice for a meeting. None of them turned up.
The VC of a private university said they had stayed away because they knew the state government, given its frosty relations with Dhankhar, would take exception to it.
