The West Bengal State Council of Higher Education has nominated around 80 student leaders who are members of the Trinamul Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) to the governing bodies of government-aided colleges.

The list includes the name of a student leader against whom the party had taken action earlier on charges of taking money in exchange for ensuring admissions beyond the capacity in a BEd college.

Also on the list is the name of another student leader, who had his name struck off the rolls on the charge of slapping a teacher at Calcutta University.

The council has come up with a list of nominees for over 400 colleges so far.

A notice issued by the council says the names have been nominated “in pursuance of ‘Rule 5(V) of the West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Administration and Regulation) Act’ 2017”.

The governing body of a college is the institution’s highest decision-making authority.

Tanmay Acharya, who had been suspended from the post of general secretary of the Kalyani University unit of TMCP in July 2014 following cash-for-seats allegations at Nadia’s Bhaktabala BEd College, has been nominated to the governing body of Polba Mahavidyalaya in Hooghly.

Acharya is pursuing a PhD at Kalyani University. Gourab Dutta Mustafi, the student who had his name struck off the rolls in March 2018 and was barred from enrolling for any course till 2020 on charges of slapping a professor at Rajabazar science college, has been nominated to the governing body of Chittaranjan College in Kolkata.

Mustafi is pursuing a PhD in chemical engineering.

Acharya told The Telegraph: “A probe conducted by Abhijit Chakrabarti, a former vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University, could not substantiate the allegations against me. The state government had ordered the probe. As a nominee to the governing body of the college, I want to work for its betterment.”

Mustafi said: “Although the charges against me were baseless, I still apologised to the teacher. The education department has considered me worthy of being a governing body member and I am grateful for that.”

Trinankur Bhattacharya, state president of TMCP, has been nominated to the governing body of Kanchrapara College.

Ashok Rudra, former state president of TMCP who now teaches at a primary school, has been nominated to the governing body of Asansol Girls’ College.

An official of the higher education department, under which functions the higher education council, said the student leaders had been nominated because they were found deserving.

“Many of them are pursuing PhDs. They have been nominated because we thought they could work for the overall improvement of the colleges,” he said.

Parthapratim Ray, a teacher of Jadavpur University who is a member of the West Bengal College and University Teachers Association, said: “This round of nomination amounts to absolute politicisation of the higher education system and dilution of academic standards.”