IN A move that may put him on a collision course with the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, Governor C V Ananda Bose has asked Vice Chancellors of all state-run universities to submit a weekly activity report to him, the Chancellor, and take his approval before deciding on any finance-related matter. In a communication dated April 4 to the Vice Chancellors, a joint secretary from the Governor's Secretariat, said: “I am directed to request you to do the needful on the following points: 1) Weekly activity report shall be submitted on the last working day of the week by email. 2) Any decision which has financial implications may be submitted for prior approval of the Hon'ble Chancellor.” The communication said the Vice Chancellors can also contact Bose over telephone or mail on any major issue through the Governor's Secretariat. On Friday, state Education Minister Bratya Basu told reporters that the state government is taking legal opinion on the Raj Bhavan communication, and urged the Governor to withdraw the directions. “Primarily, this move has no legal standing. Still the education department is taking legal opinions to find out whether it has any legal standing,” said Basu. “Here, every state university is autonomous. Unless there is an untoward incident, the state education department does not interfere in its day-to-day affairs. With due respect to the Governor, we will appeal to him to withdraw the Raj Bhavan's letter to the Vice Chancellors as this will infringe upon the autonomy of such institutions. This will lower the prestige of state universities,” he said. Basu said the state government did not have prior information about the communication. “We were completely in the dark. We came to know about it from the Vice Chancellors,” he said. “We do not want to see any confrontation between the state government and Raj Bhavan. The relationship between the state government and Raj Bhavan should not be competitive in nature but of cooperation. We will definitely work together for the greater good of the education sector,” said Basu. There was no official communication from Raj Bhavan following the minister's remarks. Often given credit for the improved ties between the Raj Bhavan and the state government, Bose had so far appeared to have avoided any confrontation with the state government. On January 17 this year, the Governor even held a meeting with the Vice Chancellors and Basu for better synergy and coordination in academic-administrative affairs. Following this, in what appeared to be a rollback of a government decision to nominate the Chief Minister as the Chancellor, Basu had said that Governor Bose will continue to be the Chancellor, and the state government had no problem working with him on university matters. In May 2022, the state Cabinet had passed a resolution to make the Chief Minister the Chancellor of state universities. The decision had come amid strained ties with Jagdeep Dhankhar, the then Governor and Bose's predecessor. The government had accused Dhankhar of unilateral actions such as convening meetings with the Vice Chancellors and objecting to names recommended by it for the posts of Vice Chancellors. In 2021, also during Dhankhar's tenure, the state government had clipped the Governor's powers as Chancellor by amending rules. According to the new rules, all communications between the Vice Chancellors and Chancellor had to be routed through the state education department. The latest communication from the Raj Bhavan was also questioned by the ruling Trinamool Congress. The party objected to the Governor asking the Vice Chancellors to take his approval before deciding on finance-related matters. Senior party leader and MP Sougata Roy said: “According to the rules, the Governor does not have this power. The Governor is the Chancellor of state universities but when it comes to financial matters it is done in accordance with rules and acts. The financial aspects are looked after by the state government. The Governor's letter has no legal standing.” The opposition BJP, however, said there is nothing wrong in the Governor's letter. BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said, “The Governor is the Chancellor of all state universities. He definitely has a say in matters related to the universities.” “In the backdrop of financial irregularities, especially in the education sector, the Governor has felt that he needs to intervene and control the spending of the universities. He is trying to keep financial anomalies in check. The state government does not follow rules and regulations and indulge in financial irregularities. They want corruption but the Governor wants otherwise. The state government has a problem with that,” he said.
