All not well at Presidency

The Trinamool leader has made no bones about her intention to “depoliticise education” in the state. None other than Governor M K Narayanan,the Chancellor of all state universities,had cautioned the state Higher Education Committee that this shouldn’t end up becoming a “repoliticisation” exercise under the new regime. However,based on the committee’s recommendations,the state government is said to be ready with the draft of a Bill to supercede Left-dominated statutory bodies in universities.

The 15 members who were removed from the Executive Council included eminent academicians such as Dr Bikash Sinha,former director of Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics; economist Amiya Bagchi; Dr Shankar Pal,former director of ISI,Calcutta; Dr Sushanta Dattagupta,Director,IISER-Kolkata,recently appointed VC of Viswa Bharati University; H A Ranganath,Director,NAAC; and the Vice-Chancellors of Jadavpur,Aliah and Calcutta University.

The new Mentor Group includes names such as Harvard professor Sugato Bose and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen,including other experts based abroad.

The move has been criticised as “highly political”,including by erstwhile members of the Council. Says Dr Bikash Sinha,a Padma Bhushan awardee: “I do not belong to the CPM,Trinamool Congress or Congress. In academic circles,a person is not recognised because he is Left or Right but because of his contribution to academics. I became a part of the Council because I owe a lot to my alma mater where I studied from 1964-67.” Incidentally,Sinha adds that he is yet to receive a formal letter announcing his removal.

When the Mentor Group was initially appointed,the talk was of “cooperation” and Chairman Sugato Bose had promised the same on his first visit to the university on July 22 when the Council members were having a meeting.

However,cracks soon emerged,with the Mentor Group raising infrastructure concerns over the Council’s decision to start eight post-graduate courses after the first batch of students took admission into Presidency University this year. State Higher and School Education Minister Bratya Basu then promised a solution “in one month”.

Instead,on September 12,the 15 nominated members of the Council were removed and the Mentor Group given responsibility to run it. “We have withdrawn all the nominated members from the University Council and given the responsibility to the Mentor Group. Three more names have been included in the Mentor Group and the count has now increased from eight to 11,” says a senior official of Higher Education department. The order has been sent to the Chancellor for final approval.

Sinha,who attended all the meetings of the Council the past one year,says he is surprised at “the awkward and shoddy manner in which the decision has been taken”,saying it is not befitting a university. With new administrators in place,the process of hiring much-needed teachers for the university is also expected to be delayed.

Professor Amal Mukhopadhyay,a former Presidency principal,questions the feasibility of governing a university with experts who live abroad. “Most of the members of the Mentor Group live abroad. Bodies like the Executive Council have to meet frequently to decide routine affairs. Is it possible to take these decisions through video conferencing?” he asks.

Bivas Chowdhury,general secretary of the Alumni Association of the University,complains that they now have no representation in the council. “Earlier Anindya Mitra (now advocate general) was nominated to the Council on the request of the alumni association.”