Calcutta High Court on Tuesday held that university authorities had the right to donate funds for relief but not the power to forcibly collect funds from employees.

Justice Amrita Sinha of Calcutta High Court made this observation while hearing a petition filed by Visva-Bharati teachers who had challenged the legality of varsity vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty’s decision to deduct a day’s salary of teachers without their consent and sent the money to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for Amphan aid.

Justice Sinha, however, said as teachers had moved court challenging the VC’s decision about a year after the incident and the money collected had been spent, no order to varsity authorities to reimburse the sum. could be issued.

In her final observation, the judge said: “…The University can always adopt ways and means to provide relief to those in need. It is not necessary that force has to be applied to reach the goal. Applying force is sharply contrary to the Rabindrik culture (the culture of Rabindranath Tagore) and tradition which Gurudev (Tagore) symbolises.”

On May 29 last year, the VC had issued a notice that by virtue of the power vested in him, he had decided to deduct a day's salary of teachers and send it to the CM Relief Fund for Amphan aid.

Challenging its validity, professors Sudipta Bhattacharya and others moved high court earlier this month saying no deduction could be made without employees’ consent. On Tuesday, Justice Sinha disposed of the petition. The counsel for teachers argued there was no provision in the Visva-Bharati Act, 1951, that granted powers of unilateral action on the university to deduct money from employees.

Office-bearers of the Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association said they would move the high court’s division bench soon to seek an adjustment of the deducted salary from the account of the VC.

“We welcome the court order but want responsibility fixed on the VC as our salary was deducted by authorities at his directive,” said a member of the teachers’ association.

Officiating public relations officer of Visva-Bharati, Anirban Sircar, who is authorised to speak to the media, did not respond to calls or a text from this paper.

Lawyers divided

Lawyers of Calcutta High Court are divided over the decision to boycott the courtroom of Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal for his alleged “unethical activities”. On Tuesday, lawyers including Arunava Ghosh and Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya attended a meeting convened by Bar Association assistant secretary Ritzu Ghosal and took a resolution to boycott the court of Justice Bindal. In another meeting called by Bar Association secretary Dhiraj Trivedi, lawyers including association vice-president Ajoy Dubey passed a resolution declaring the earlier meeting as “invalid” and decided to keep attending Justice Bindal’s court.

Tussle between lawyers and the acting chief justice started after the latter on May 17 had taken up the CBI’s prayer regarding the arrest of four leaders accused in the Narada case instead of sending it to a single judge bench.

Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty