West Bengal: VCs Told to Submit Weekly Activity Report to Governor, Education Minister Says Kept in Dark

The vice-chancellors of all state-run universities in West Bengal have been asked to submit weekly activity reports to Governor CV Anand Bose as the chancellor of these institutions.

The directive drew a sharp reaction from the state government on Friday with the state Education Minister Bratya Basu termed the governor’s letter as having “no legal validity” without taking the state higher education department into confidence.

The standoff, reminiscent of the tussle between former governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and the TMC-led government over control of the state’s universities, could upset the chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Bose.

Basu urged the governor to withdraw the letter and sit down with the government to discuss “removing any confusion and all ambiguities”.

The development comes in the backdrop of the state government reversing its earlier decision to make the chief minister the chancellor of state universities during Dhankhar’s tenure after the state criticized his alleged encroachment on the autonomy of state universities through various “unilaterals”. Objected. Action including convening meetings with Vice-Chancellors and going against the names recommended by the Government as new Vice-Chancellors.

The state’s education minister recently said that Bose would remain chancellor of the state’s universities, not chief minister, and that the state had no problem working with him on university matters.

Meanwhile, vice-chancellors of the two universities told PTI on Friday that they have received a letter in this regard from the governor’s secretariat.

The letter, sent by a Joint Secretary-level officer of the Governor’s Secretariat on April 4, said, “The weekly activity report will be submitted by email on the last working day of the week and any decision having financial implications will be submitted for prior approval.” May go to Hon’ble Chancellor’s”.

Giving a mobile number and email ID to contact Kumar, the letter said, “The Vice-Chancellor may contact the Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor on telephone or mail on any major issue through ADC (Major Nikhil Kumar).”

Senior Special Secretary to the Governor Debasish Ghosh will coordinate university affairs at Raj Bhavan.

Taking strong objection to the letter, Basu told reporters that the letter was issued by the governor without taking the government into confidence and that he had no knowledge of the letter before being pointed out to it by vice-chancellors of some universities.

“The relationship between the Governor and the Vice-Chancellors is not one of competition but of co-operation and coordination. In UGC surveys, our state universities, which enjoy full functional autonomy, occupy high ranks.

“We don’t want any fight with the governor’s office. On previous occasions, we had held joint press meetings with the Governor where both sides claimed to work in synergy and close coordination. This letter is not in keeping with that spirit.

The VC of a government university told PTI on condition of anonymity that his office has already received the letter and to his knowledge, various state universities across the state have received the letter.

“…this is an official communique from the office of the Hon’ble Chancellor, seeking weekly updates regarding the functioning of the educational institution. We will act accordingly,” she said.

Another vice-chancellor of a prominent university also confirmed receipt of the letter but did not want to comment.

In early March, the governor held a meeting with the vice-chancellors of all state universities and the education minister for better coordination and coordination in running academic-administrative affairs.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)