The West Bengal cabinet on Thursday approved the proposal to make the Chief Minister the Chancellor of the state-based universities. As per the current system followed across the country, the Governor is appointed as the Chancellor of the State Government-run Universities. The Chancellor is responsible for the appointment of Vice-Chancellors and takes other important administrative decisions. Now Bengal needs Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to take that position.
However, to make this change, the state government will have to pass a bill in the assembly and amend the existing law. To be implemented, the Bill had to get assent from the Governor before it became an Act.
The system was first proposed by the Poonchi Commission in 2010, however, it caught heat last year amid tensions between the governor and the chief minister. Earlier there were allegations that the state government was appointing vice-chancellors on its own; Ignoring the Chancellor (Governor).
In Tamil Nadu too, the Governor and MK Stalin-led DMK government followed a conflict between the Tamil Nadu University Laws (Amendment) Act, 2022 and the Chennai University Act, 1923. [Chennai University (Amendment) Act, 2022] April 25 was passed with the expression “government” replacing “chancellor”. Last month, Stalin said this was not a rare occurrence, and that the Gujarat government also had the power to appoint vice-chancellors in state-based universities.
A similar incident occurred in Kerala when the government voluntarily decided to give up the Chancellor’s posts, however, in West Bengal, this is being perceived as a power struggle. The standoff between the state government and the governor continues ever since he became the constitutional head of the state.
Meanwhile, recently the High Court has ordered against ministers including former Minister of State for Education in a recruitment scam in the Mamta cabinet. Earlier this week, the HC quashed the appointment of the minister’s daughter, who was appointed allegedly because of his influence on the WB SSC recruitment process.
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