The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Bengal government to submit a chart containing a list of all universities in the state and the disciplines taught, provisions for the appointment of vice-chancellors and the amendment brought by the Mamata Banerjee administration in regard to the appointment.
The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Dipankar Datta also directed the state’s standing counsel, Ashta Sharma, to ensure that the Bengal government filed the affidavit containing the information by October 3. The matter will be heard again on October 6.
The court asked the lawyer appearing for Bengal, the Bengal governor and the UGC whether they would like to recommend names other than the ones they suggested on Wednesday for inclusion in a court-appointed search committee for appointment of VCs.
The bench took exception to a remark made by a counsel for the governor that as the chancellor of state universities, C.V. Ananda Bose had to intervene and appoint VCs because the state was being “destroyed” by the government.
The court said it did not appreciate such political statements made before it.
Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Jaideep Gupta appeared for Bengal.
Advocates Susmita Saha Dutta and Manoj Ranjan Sinha appeared for the chancellor and the UGC, respectively.
Senior advocates Rana Mukherjee and Gopal Sankaranarayanan appeared for some of the interveners in the matter.
On September 15, the bench had asked the Bengal government, the governor and the UGC to suggest three to five names each for the search committee.
The committee will shortlist candidates for the post of vice-chancellor at state-aided universities.
The universities are now helmed by interim vice-chancellors handpicked by the governor.
The Bengal government has alleged that the governor made the appointments without consulting it.
The apex court had passed the directions on an application moved by the state saying the chancellor and the UGC had failed to respond to any of the communications from the government seeking nominees for the search and selection committee.
The application by the state said the registrars of the universities had been instructed not to attend a review meeting called by the government upon orders from the Raj Bhavan.