The interim vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati, Sanjoy Kumar Mallik, assumed office on Thursday and said that the varsity had written to the ministry of education to on his jurisdiction, authority and limitations of work.

“I am an interim vice-chancellor who does not have full responsibilities, duties and power to act (unlike a permanent vice-chancellor). As these issues are not clear in the two-line letter we received from the ministry, we have asked for a detailed clarification on those,” said Mallik at a news conference in Santiniketan on Thursday afternoon.

A source said on Thursday that the central varsity’s acting registrar, Ashok Mahato, sent the letter to the ministry to know the “dos and don’ts” of the acting VC.

“My utmost duty is to initiate the process of selection of a new vice-chancellor and I will start it very soon. I want a permanent VC with full capacity to take charge as soon as possible to drive the varsity in the right direction,” he added.

According to norms, the varsity had to hold a meeting of its court and executive council to initiate the process after the end of the tenure of any vice-chancellor.

Mallik’s step in seeking clarification from the ministry assumes significance at a time when people inside and outside the campus are expecting him to take measures to rectify the alleged wrongdoings by his predecessor Bidyut Chakrabarty, including removing the plaques installed recently to mark Unesco’s heritage tag for Santiniketan without Rabindranath Tagore’s name.

“Mallik is an alumnus of the varsity who later became a professor in Kala-Bhavana. We hope he will try his level best to restore the environment of Santiniketan by rectifying the plaque as soon as possible,” said a senior varsity professor.

On removing the controversial plaques, Mallik said he was not aware if he could act on them but asserted he would not distance himself from the Santiniketan community.

“First, let me know what I can and can’t do. Then I can take steps,” he added.

TMC protest ends

Trinamul on Thursday ended its demonstration that began on October 27 to demand the removal of the controversial plaques with new ones with Tagore’s name.

A Trinamul leader said that they withdrew their protest after the request of members of Santiniketan Trust to give the new acting vice-chancellor some time to act on the issue.

Cops summon Bidyut

Santiniketan police station summoned former vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty on Thursday in connection with six criminal cases lodged against him in the past three years.