Minister rebuts threat charge: Governor is lying

Basu said, “Vice-chancellors have been dishonoured by bringing heinous allegations against them. Serious allegations like harassment of students have been levelled. Have you taken any action as per the law? He is the judge, he is also the executioner. He dishonoured the glory of the vice-chancellors. I don’t know what he is gaining out of all this. Those he is appointing, are the perfect ones and the rest all are bad?”

The Education minister also rebutted the Governor’s charge that five of the interim vice-chancellors he had appointed resigned after receiving threats from the Education Department. “He (The Governor) is lying,” Basu said and demanded proof from Bose. On Thursday, the Governor, who is the chancellor of the state universities, claimed: “It is unfortunate that five vice-chancellors had to resign. They personally told me that they received life threats… They also faced intimidation from the Education Department and senior IAS officers. This is what the V-Cs told me in private before putting up their resignation. I did not ask anyone to resign. They resigned out of fear,” he said.
Basu said, “What message is he giving to the people of the state? He is playing puppet games… It is categorically specified in the laws that the chancellor cannot take any decision unilaterally. He is bound to do that in consultation with the Education department.”

Meanwhile, sources said that out of the 31 registrars, only 12 attended the meeting on Friday. Pointing to the absence of the registrars, the minister alleged that the registrars were being threat by the Raj Bhavan. “Who is trying to create an atmosphere of fear among academicians? Who is threatening? Raj Bhavan or Vikas Bhavan?” Basu said.
Vikas Bhavan houses the state Education Department.

Sources in the Education Department that registrars who did not attend the Friday’s meeting will be issued show-cause notices. The tension between the Raj Bhavan and the state government flared up after Governor Bose started appointing temporary vice-chancellors in state universities. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed him for taking unilateral decisions related to state universities and threatened to block funds for these institutions and sit on a dharna in front of the Raj Bhavan.

“We will not allow this to continue. If the governor thinks he is bigger than the chief minister, we will fight back. He should not forget that he is nominated for that post,” Banerjee said at a Teachers’ Day programme in Kolkata on Monday. “If you interfere with any university or if any university or college takes your order, I will create economic obstructions…Let me see how you pay the salaries of university staff,” she added.

On Thursday, the Governor in a tit-for-tat response slammed the government for criticising his move to appoint interim vice-chancellors for state universities, alleging that some of the people recommended by the ruling dispensation were corrupt and had harassment charges against them.