The state education department has issued an interim appointment order for six months naming three key officials of the North Bengal University (NBU), the largest and oldest varsity in the region.

The order has come as a relief for the varsity authorities as the tenure of the officials had almost ended and if these posts had turned vacant, there would have been an impasse at the institution.

Sources said in the order issued by the department, Nupur Das, secretary of the undergraduate council of NBU, has been assigned the role of the new acting registrar. Surajit Das and Mahendra Nath Roy have been appointed as finance officer and dean respectively, said sources.

“Previously, these positions were managed by officials appointed by the governor. Following this order, we believe the university’s governance is now firmly under the control of the state education department,” said a senior employee of NBU.

“Surajit Das and Mahendra Nath Roy were serving as finance officer and dean, respectively, but their terms ended recently. Their previous appointments were issued by acting vice-chancellor C.M. Ravindran, who was appointed by the governor, without official recognition from the state government,” said a source.

“This latest directive formalises their appointments under the state’s law. Mahendra Nath’s tenure ended on September 18, and Surajit’s on September 21. There was an apprehension that if these posts are not filled, it would lead to various problems in administrative works of NBU,” sources added.

Debasis Dutta, the controller of examinations, was serving as acting registrar until now.

While the other two officials have been reappointed, Debasis has been replaced by Nupur Das who had previously served as acting registrar for six months during the tenure of former vice-chancellor Om Prakash Mishra.“This is the second time I have been appointed as an acting registrar. I will carry out the responsibilities entrusted to me by the education department with utmost sincerity,” said Nupur Das.

Sources said that Debasis’s term is set to conclude on October 3 while a request to extend the terms of these acting officials had been submitted to the state higher education department.

“However, the state government decided not to extend their terms and instead reappointed all three for a fresh term of six months. The deputy secretary of the department has cited specific section of state law under which these appointments were made in the official notification,” said sources.

Nupur Das has been instructed to assume her role from October 3.

“Now that the appointments of these three key officials have been made, it is expected that issues related to disbursement of salaries and other administrative complexities at the university will be resolved,” said a senior faculty member.