Published: Updated on – 12:52 am, Fri – 27 May 22
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a press conference after a meeting with government officials on COVID and the situation in Bengal following Cyclone Yash, in Howrah, Kolkata, Wednesday, June 23, 2021. (Photo: IANS)
Kolkata: A new round of tussle between West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and the Mamata Banerjee government seems to be beginning as the state cabinet on Thursday decided to appoint the chief minister as the vice-chancellor of all state universities instead of the governor.
This is the first time that the state government has taken such an initiative to break the protocol of having a governor as the chancellor of state universities, which has been in place since independence.
After the state cabinet meeting at the state secretariat, Nabanna, Education Minister Bratya Basu said the state government would bring a bill in the assembly to propose that the chief minister, not the governor, be the chancellor of state universities.
“Once the bill is passed in the assembly, it will be sent for the assent of the governor. If the governor refuses to pass the bill, the state government will bring an ordinance to implement this behavioral change.
The development comes at a time when the state government and the ruling Trinamool Congress are already involved in the ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the recruitment irregularities of the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), where the state government has two ministers. The grilling has already been done by the officials of the central agency.
There has been no response from the Governor on the matter till the filing of this report. However, opposition parties have criticized the initiative.
BJP state spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said that this is a direct attempt to control the autonomy of the state universities. “The chief minister was trying to run the state as an independent entity from the very beginning and hence, she has taken a decision which no state government has done before. It is against tradition and tradition.”
CPI(M) Central Committee member and former Leader of the Left in the Assembly, Dr Sujan Chakraborty, argued that the initiative was aimed at having direct administrative and political control over the state’s universities.
“This decision has been taken at a time when the role of several state ministers and officials is under question due to rampant corruption in the education sector. This is complete politicization of the functioning of state agencies. On one hand the Chief Minister is demanding complete autonomy for the central agencies and on the other hand she is trying to destroy the autonomous nature of the state universities.
Academics were divided on this development.
Dr. Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay, educationist, political analyst and former principal of the then Presidency College, said that the Chief Minister is the administrative head of the state and a political personality.
“So, the incident of the Chief Minister being the Chancellor of the University means political interference in the independent functioning of the institutions. Traditionally and traditionally the Governor, by virtue of his chairs, was the Chancellor of the State University. I see no reason to break away from that tradition,” he said.
Noted historian and Sanskrit scholar Nrisinh Prasad Bhaduri, however, welcomed the decision.
“The present Governor of West Bengal, Jagdeep Dhankhar was creating many hurdles for the state government to function properly. The governor is withholding several files, including several related to the appointment of university vice-chancellors. In such a situation, the state government had no other option but to take this decision. I welcome the move.”
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