Amid the running row over appointment of officials in the state-run universities between Raj Bhavan (the Governor's residence) and Nabanna (the West Bengal state secretariat), West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Tuesday night appointed Professor Kajal De as the acting vice-chancellor (V-C) of the newly established Kanyashree University. With the Governor having already appointed acting V-Cs in 16 universities late on Sunday night, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had, earlier on Tuesday, warned that her government will block funds to these universities, including wages. Such a conflict has been going on between the CM and the Governor for a long time. It started in July 2019, when Jagdeep Dhankhar assumed the office of the Governor and has continued through the tenure of Ananda Bose, who was appointed as the Governor in November 2022. Immediately after becoming the Governor, Dhankhar had alleged that the state government had appointed V-Cs without informing him, the ex-officio Chancellor of all state universities. He said, “The appointment of V-Cs in over a dozen cases, without sanction of the Chancellor, is legally flawed and in violation of the statute. The government has been called upon to revisit them. Hopefully, they will see reason and thereby avoid the pain to me to take extreme measures. The appointment of the V-C of Calcutta University for a full term for a second time without any selection process is totally unacceptable and reflective of governance for largesse.” During his tenure, the fight between the Governor and the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led government intensified over the appointment of the V-Cs in various universities in the state. The state government passed a law in June 2022 to make the CM the Chancellor of the state-run universities, along with several amendment Bills — The West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The West Bengal Private University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The West Bengal Krishi Viswavidyalaya Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022, The West Bengal University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and The Aliah University (Amendment) Bill, 2022 — to implement the change. However all these Bills are stuck at the Raj Bhavan pending the Governor's approval. The West Bengal Private University Laws Amendment Bill, 2022, was also passed at the same time, replacing the Governor with the state education minister as the “Visitor” to private universities. Explaining her position, the CM recently said that she had earlier approved a list of three names each for the V-Cs of universities sent to her by the state education department, which she had duly forwarded to the Raj Bhavan, without any response. “To appoint a V-C, one has to send three names. If you [Governor] have the guts, the Bill [has been] passed in the Assembly, the CM will be the Chairperson or the Chancellor. Sign that Bill. There was a law during the British period. There were only three universities then. Today, we have 44-45 universities here. Will he [Governor] decide who will be the V-C of these universities?” she said, indicating that the law making the Governor the ex-officio Chancellor of the state universities was archaic. After Dhankhar became Vice President of India, La Ganeshan was appointed interim Governor from July 2022 to November 2022. Thereafter, Ananda Bose became the Governor. However, the Bills empowering the CM as the Chancellor is yet to be signed. Following in Dhankhar's footsteps, Bose promptly engaged in a heated dispute with the state government, after he used his position as the Chancellor to himself assume the role of acting V-Cs in several state universities. In fact, days after issuing a circular from his office on August 31, declaring that the Governor would be the acting V-C of the 14 institutions until the posts were filled, Bose on Sunday issued fresh circulars, appointing the acting V-Cs, some of whom took charge Monday. It ignited a no-holds -barred war of words. At a Teacher’s Day event Tuesday, the CM launched an unprecedented attack on the Governor, saying, “The Governor says he alone will oversee colleges and universities in the state. Have you ever heard that a V-C was changed in the middle of the night? Former IPS officers and former judges have been brought in overnight (as V-Cs of universities). He appointed a BJP man as the V-C of Jadavpur University (JU) at midnight. He made a Kerala-cadre IPS officer the V-C of a sensitive Aliah University, and recruited a person with no academic experience as the V-C of Rabindra Bharati University (RBU).” “If any college or university obeys the Governor, I will block their funds. Let's see how the V-C is given a salary. I will see how professors, teachers and employees are given salaries in universities," Mamata said. Alleging that it was a “conspiracy” to destroy the system, she said, “We will not allow this to continue. If the Governor thinks he is bigger than the CM, we will fight back. He should not forget that he has been nominated to that post.” Claiming that this stalemate will hamper the university-level higher education, Pabitra Sarkar, a former VC of RBU, said: “I don’t know if a Governor can appoint people in this manner. There are rules.” Prof Parthapratim Biswas of the JU said, “Absence of a V-C means absence of administration, which gives birth to anarchy inside the university. This is undesirable. On the other hand, the stalemate will also hamper the university's branding.” He added, “The CM can't say that the government won't give money. The Governor too has to obey the rules passed by the legislature. This fight will hamper the mutual trust and respect among the stakeholders of all institutions of higher studies. Universities like Jadavpur or Calcutta will lose their ranking, which will tarnish their image and seriously affect their future funding. Ultimately, this will lead to privatisation of higher education in this state. That too is not desirable.”
