West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose has held a virtual meeting with interim vice-chancellors of state universities, who were appointed by him, to discuss academic and administrative issues faced by the higher educational institutions.

One of the VCs who attended the meeting told PTI that the governor, also the chancellor of the state-run varsities, spoke about ways to run the institutions in the best interest of students.

"The honourable governor asked us to strengthen the anti-ragging committee in our respective universities, among other things... He also informed us that he would be available on phone for any advice,” another VC said.

A total of 22 interim VCs, appointed by Bose since May, attended the meeting on Sunday, a Raj Bhavan source said.

Bose's decision to appoint the interim VCs of 16 state universities “without consulting the state government” had drawn flak from the education minister.

The Raj Bhavan had countered the state government’s criticism, saying the governor had only acted in the interest of students, as a stalemate was created following the retirement of permanent VCs of the universities concerned.

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