Bengal: Governor claims 25 V-Cs appointed without his nod

Referring to the appointment of Sonali Chakravarti as the vice-chancellor of CU for a second term as “a classic case of patronage”, the Governor claimed that he had directed to withdraw the appointment on September 16.

“Aug 28 Notification @MamataOfficial appointing Sonali Chakravarti CU VC for second four year term (a classic case of patronage) was directed by Chancellor on Sept 16 to be withdrawn.No response @basu_bratya “Law unto Oneself” stance. Instance of “Law of ruler, not rule of law,” he tweeted further.

On Friday, the Mamata Banerjee government appointed Professor Soma Bandyopadhyay as the new V-C of Diamond Harbour Women’s University (DHWU) after the Dean of the Arts faculty, Prof Tapan Mondal, who was appointed to the spot by Dhankhar in his capacity as the Chancellor, declined to accept the post citing personal reasons.

Bandyopadhyay was appointed as the new V-C after her predecessor Prof Anuradha Mukhopadhyay resigned from the post on Friday. Bandyopadhyay was the acting VC of Sanskrit College and University and a full-time V-C of West Bengal University of Teachers’ Training, Education Planning and Administration (WBUTTEPA). Mukhopadhyay was appointed as the new V-C of Sanskrit College and University.

Responding to the Dhankhar’s tweet, Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy said the state Education department has the power to go ahead with its decision to appoint V-Cs even if the Governor refuses to give his nod.

“The Governor is not doing justice to his constitutional post by sending out such tweets. He is encroaching the domain of the state government. As the figurehead, he should have given his assent to the names of the V-Cs decided by the search committee. The Higher Education Department is vested with the power to decide the names after due consideration. If the governor refuses to give his nod to the selections, the department has the power to go ahead with its decision as per law,” Roy said.

Along with his tweet, the Governor also shared a copy of a letter he wrote to the CM on August 17. In the letter, he had stated that the proposal seeking reappointment of Prof. Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee, for a second term as V-C of CU “is not in consonance with the applicable statutory prescriptions”.

“I need to indicate here that without being a participant in selection, and consequent selection, an incumbent Vice Chancellor cannot get another term in view of section 8(2)(a) of the Calcutta University Act, 1979,” Dhankhar wrote.

The war of words between the Governor and the state government intensified recently after the V-Cs of private universities had excused themselves from a meeting called by him to discuss campus safety amid rising omicron cases in the state.

On December 20, the Governor invited vice-chancellors of private universities for the meeting but it was later rescheduled for December 23. However, despite being rescheduled, the heads of the private varsities gave it a miss. The Governor later took to Twitter to vent his misgivings over the meeting falling through.

In response to the Governor’s video address, State Education Minister Bratya Basu said the government was considering a proposal to nominate Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as Chancellor of all state universities. He accused Dhankhar of “continuously interfering” and keeping several files awaiting his clearance pending.