A representative teachers' body in Jadavpur University on Tuesday threatened to launch an agitation from December 20 if the tussle between the West Bengal Higher Education Department and the Raj Bhavan was not resolved.
The Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) said the tussle was affecting the academic atmosphere of the institution.
"Jadavpur University's academic atmosphere has been affected due to the raging row, leading to stoppage of normal statutory activities. If there is no visible improvement in the situation, we will launch a larger movement from December 20," JUTA general secretary Partha Pratim Roy told PTI.
Roy alleged that Officiating Vice Chancellor Buddhadeb Sau has made various statutory bodies of JU "defunct" and taken unilateral decisions without taking "other stakeholders into confidence".
On the incident of ragging leading to the death of an undergraduate student in August, Roy alleged, "University authorities are dragging their feet with regard to taking prompt action against those seniors whose involvement in the incident was mentioned in the anti-ragging panel report.
"We demand that action be initiated by December 12, failing which teachers will stage a 14-hour sit-in protest on December 14 as a precursor to our planned movement from December 20," he added.
While six senior students have been barred from entering the campus on the basis of the findings of the anti-ragging committee, the JUTA secretary said that action was "too little".
JU's annual convocation, which takes place on December 24 every year, has been stuck in uncertainty after the higher education department termed as illegal the holding of an executive council meeting with no permanent VC at the helm. This has made the awarding of certificates to students, studying in various disciplines, uncertain.
JUTA demanded that the issue of giving away certificates to the students be completed in a week's time as it concerns their future.
Governor CV Ananda Bose and the West Bengal government have locked horns over the appointment of vice-chancellors of several state-run universities, with the higher education department claiming the orders appointing VCs were illegal as the governor had not consulted the department before making the appointments.
In October, the Supreme Court had stayed the emoluments of the newly appointed interim vice-chancellors, and asked the governor to sit with the chief minister "over a cup of coffee" to resolve the deadlock over the appointment of VCs.
It had said there was a need for reconciliation between the governor and the chief minister "in the interest of educational institutions and the future careers of lakhs of students".
On September 27, the apex court had sought names of eminent personalities including scientists, technocrats, administrators, educationists and jurists for setting up a search committee for shortlisting and appointing VCs in state-run universities.
Taking note of the running feud between the state and the office of the governor on the issue, the top court had said on September 15 that it would set up a search committee to pick VCs.
Earlier, the Calcutta High Court had held the chancellor has the power to appoint VCs as laid down in relevant enactments.
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