Tension rises in their ties as Bengal Governor, Mamata govt lock horns over V-Cs’ appointment

Calling C V Ananda Bose’s move to appoint 11 interim V-Cs ‘unilateral’ and ‘illegal’, Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu says the govt would not ‘recognise them’, accusing the former of trying to ‘establish his control over campuses’

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. (Express photo by Partha Paul/File)

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The bonhomie between the West Bengal Raj Bhavan and the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government seems to be petering out with both sides now facing off over the recent appointment of interim Vice-Chancellors (V-Cs) in the state by Governor C V Ananda Bose.

In his capacity as the Chancellor of all state universities, Governor Bose Thursday appointed interim V-Cs to 11 universities after the incumbents completed their extended tenures. These universities include University of Kalyani, University of Burdwan, Sanskrit College and University, Sidho Kanho Birsha University, Kazi Nazrul University, Dakshin Dinajpur University, University of Calcutta, Jadavpur University, Bankura University, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Education University, and Diamond Harbour Women’s University.

The Mamata government reacted strongly to the Governor’s move, calling it “unilateral” and “illegal”. State Education Minister Bratya Basu Friday said, “We won’t recognise them as officiating V-Cs. The Chancellor is appointing interim V-Cs without holding any consultation with the department to establish his control over campuses.”

Basu claimed, “The Supreme Court said the Governor will appoint V-Cs in consultation with the state government. But this was not followed while appointing V-Cs in the state-aided universities.”

Joining issue with the Education Minister, the Governor, on the sidelines of an event at Raj Bhavan, said: “Consultation does not mean concurrence.”

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The interim V-Cs are being appointed in the state as the selection of full-term VCs through a five-member search committee would take time. In early March, Bose, in consultation with Basu, had extended the tenures of previous acting V-Cs of these universities for three months.

In the third week of May, the education department had urged the Governor to extend the tenure of 24 V-Cs by six months, whose tenures were scheduled to end by May or early June.

In signs of further deterioration of the relations between the two sides, more V-Cs’ appointments are said to be on the cards, according to sources.

In February this year, the Governor’s decision to relieve his principal secretary Nandini Chakravorty of her position did not go down well with the Mamata government, which set the stage for the first major confrontation between them. Till then, the two sides enjoyed cordial relations, which was in stark contrast with the strained ties between the Raj Bhavan and the government during the tenure of Bose’s predecessor Jagdeep Dhankhar, the current Vice-President of India.

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Bose had drawn criticism from the principal Opposition BJP following a Raj Bhavan event attended by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on January 26, when in an attempt to start learning Bengali Bose organised a “Haathe Khori (initiation with a chalk)” ceremony. In Bengali families, the ritual is organised to mark the formal beginning of a child’s education. While Mamata attended the event, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari boycotted it, charging that the event was part of the state government’s attempts to “wash off the stains” of the alleged teacher recruitment scam.

Earlier, Banerjee called the Governor a “perfect gentleman” after meeting him at the Raj Bhavan. On January 17, after a meeting with Bose and the V-Cs of all universities in the state, Basu said the Raj Bhavan and the state government would work together for the development of the education sector.

Meanwhile, several former and current VCs have now alleged that Bose was forcing V-Cs to act in violation of rules, which state the Governor cannot directly ask V-Cs for reports. They also accused Bose of allegedly rewarding those who acted in violation of the rules.

“As per existing West Bengal College and University Administration Rules, 2019, all communications from the office of the Chancellor to the Vice-Chancellor or vice versa should be routed through the department. It is unfortunate that the Chancellor rewarded those V-Cs who have sent reports directly to him violating this rule and punished those V-Cs who have sent the report to the department following the rules. Punishing the law-abiding people and rewarding the unlawful act by the authorities would push the society at large towards anarchy,” said the academicians in a statement.

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On April 4, Governor Bose had asked the V-Cs of all state-run universities to “submit a weekly activity report to him”, and to take his prior “approval before taking any decisions related to finances”. However, after the V-Cs

did not follow his instructions, the Governor again wrote to them on May 23, reminding them to send a weekly report to him. As he failed to get any response, he ordered that a show-cause notice be issued to the V-Cs of six universities — Kazi Nazrul University, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Bidhan Chandra Agricultural University, West Bengal State University, Kalyani University and University of Burdwan.

The TMC and the BJP sparred over the latest standoff between the Governor and the Mamata government. “The TMC government did not follow UGC guidelines and violated rules in appointment of V-Cs without taking into consideration the opinion of the Governor who is the Chancellor. A state of anarchy cannot remain prevalent in a university. The Governor has thus taken steps to ensure normalcy in such institutes of higher education. He is within his limits to take such a decision in the best interest of the students, teachers and overall education sector,” said BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya.