Escalating the ongoing standoff between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal and Governor CV Ananda Bose, Jadavpur University interim Vice-Chancellor Buddhadeb Sau on Sunday held the institution's annual convocation ceremony despite being “removed” from his post by the Raj Bhavan through an order issued the previous night. Hours after his “removal”, the state Higher Education Department, citing Supreme Court orders, claimed to have “reinstated” Sau who attended the ceremony as a moderator even as he did not preside over it. Governor Bose, who is the ex-officio Chancellor of all state universities, did not attend the programme. Also, University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman M Jagadesh Kumar, who was invited as the chief guest to the 66th annual convocation, gave the event a miss despite being in Kolkata. The degrees were awarded to students by Pro Vice-Chancellor Amitava Datta. This is for the first time at the university that there was no address from either the Chancellor or the Vice-Chancellor, and even the chief guest. Like every year, the state Higher Education Department had earlier this month given permission to the university to hold the annual convocation on December 24. The department even allowed the varsity authorities to hold meetings of the executive council and the court (the highest decision-making body of the university) to discuss issues related to holding the convocation. But the Governor, citing university rules, according to which an interim vice-chancellor cannot hold any meeting, objected to the decision and forbade the authorities from holding the court meeting. The university, however, went ahead with the meeting and decided to hold the annual convocation. Bose had appointed Sau as the JU's officiating vice-chancellor in August this year. On Saturday night, the Governor issued a notice to remove Sau as the interim V-C with sources saying the decision was taken for defying Bose's orders. While “reinstating” Sau, the state Higher Education Department allowed to hold the convocation, citing the Supreme Court orders. On Sunday morning, the court members of the university held a meeting before the convocation and decided to go ahead with the event. Speaking to mediapersons, Sau said, “I got two letters— one from the Raj Bhavan and the other from the state government which asked me to continue my job. I presented both the letters before the court members today. After a discussion, the court asked me to issue all certificates in my name and hold the convocation as the Vice-Chancellor of the university. I agreed to the court's request.” The interim VC added, "The court acted as per law and so did I. Even when the Chancellor opens the convocation, he later delegates the power to the V-C who conducts the event. In the absence of the Chancellor, the V-C does the job." Speaking to mediapersons, university Registrar Snehamanju Basu said, "Jadavpur University is an autonomous institution. In a bid to ensure that students receiving their degrees at the convocation do not face any hassle in the future, the court members requested the interim V-C to delegate the powers to the pro V-C to preside over the event and hand over the certificates to the students. The interim VC was present on the dais." The Governor, it is learnt, has sought legal opinion on whether he can grant post-facto approval to the convocation without which the degrees awarded to the students might become invalid, a Raj Bhavan official said. He, as the Chancellor, also held an emergency meeting of officiating V-Cs of universities from across the state. Sources in the Raj Bhavan said an emergency task force is also being sent to the UGC for further discussions on the development. The Governor was also of the view that the state government should not interfere in the autonomy of a state university. The Raj Bhavan further warned of a probe against Sau and that it was seeking legal opinion to explore whether the expenses of the unauthorised convocation could be deducted from the Officiating VC's salary. State Education Minister Bratya Basu said that as per the Supreme Court order, the VC cannot be removed unilaterally. He also slammed Bose for allegedly destroying the higher education sector in the state. “As per the Supreme Court, status quo has to be maintained. The top court has clearly said that no one can appoint or remove anyone. Then how come someone was removed like this? The Governor is working against the interests of the higher education sector in Bengal," said Basu.
