The purported decision of Visva-Bharati executive council headed by vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty to close the varsity sine die was kept on hold following a directive from the Union education ministry on Wednesday as the Centre did not consider the situation grave enough for such a move.
In an emergency meeting held online on Tuesday evening, the executive council had purportedly decided to shut the university sine die — with no date set for resumption — in view of ongoing protests by students against the rustication of three student leaders.
Sources at the varsity said senior officials from New Delhi had called up officiating registrar Ashok Mahato and asked him to keep the work as usual and immediately disburse the salaries and pensions, which had been withheld purportedly at the directive of the VC.
“The ministry clearly directed us, verbally, not to close the varsity sine die, immediately. A top official of the education ministry asked the vice-chancellor to keep the decision on hold and not to implement it till a grave situation emerges. Such a decision, following only a students’ movement, would tarnish the image of not only the central varsity but also the education ministry,” said a senior official.
A varsity official said the salaries and pensions would be credited to the employees’ accounts soon.
He said the directives from Delhi were a setback for Chakrabarty. “However, the ministry did not ask for the revocation of the executive council’s decision. The VC can implement it anytime if it’s green-lit by Delhi,” he added.
The ministry, said another official, is also “unhappy” over discontinuing the processes of conducting admissions and publishing results.
A petition was moved before Calcutta High Court by Visva-Bharati authorities, seeking judicial intervention in the ongoing stalemate over the agitation by a section of students and teachers, allegedly with the active support of “outsiders”. The petition also demanded action against the agitators by the state.
Justice Rajasekhar Mantha fixed the hearing of the case on Thursday.
“We were surprised when we found that the notification of closure of the varsity sine die did not come even late on Wednesday although the decision had been taken unanimously at the council. Later, I came to know that the education ministry had ordered that it be put on hold,” said a member of the council.
“It is grave injustice to Chakrabarty, for students to gherao him for days…,” he added.
The RSS’s student arm ABVP issued a press release on Wednesday afternoon, asking the administration to engage in dialogue with the protesting students so that the admissions and the declaration of results were not hampered.
“The demand of the ABVP proves the saffron camp is also against such a decision of Chakrabarty, who whimsically rusticated the students and then tried to close the varsity, to serve his own interests,” said a senior professor of the varsity.
A group of the Congress’s leaders and workers, headed by party’s Birbhum district chief Miltan Rashid, agitated in front of Chakrabarty’s residence, demanding his resignation and rescinding of the rustication of the three students.
On Wednesday, a police team was deployed in front of Chakrabarty’s residence to avoid untoward incidents.
Somnath Sow, a rusticated and protesting student, said: “We did not stop any services to the vice-chancellor so far. We even offered to bring him his essentials. He is trying to stage a drama.”
