Guv firm on Wed e-meet of VCs, council ‘shocked’

Guv firm on Wed e-meet of VCs, council ‘shocked’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata:  14.07.2020

The West Bengal governor has given priority to students and promised to take up their cause with the HRD minister following revised UGC guidelines for compulsory holding of examinations for final-year students by end of September 2020.

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar so assured students in a tweet after a two-hour “way forward interaction” with the state education minister and the education secretary at Raj Bhavan on Monday, two days after the education secretary gave a miss to a Raj Bhavan meeting.

But the governor, in his capacity as chancellor of state universities, isn’t yielding to the state government rules that leave no room for a “direct interaction” between chancellor and vice-chancellors. Raj Bhavan has sent a terse letter to VCs to participate in a virtual meeting the chancellor has called on July 15, to which West Bengal Vice Chancellors’ Council has responded with “shock and disappointment”.

Raj Bhavan has taken exception to opinions expressed by a few VCs, who argued the other day that rules framed under West Bengal State Universities Act did not provide for such direct interaction.

The officer on special duty (OSD) to the governor wrote to VCs and pro-VCs on Monday, two days ahead of the virtual meeting, mentioning that their absence might lead to consequences in keeping with statutory provisions. “VCs and pro-VCs to attend the meeting virtually on July 15 in a state of preparedness and any disregard to this may result in violation of their conduct leading to consequences as per statutory prescriptions,” says the OSD’s letter.

In a statement, the council said the VCs had written to the state government, seeking its opinion on such direct interaction with the governor when it contravenes the West Bengal State Universities Rules of 2019 in regard to the terms and conditions of service of VCs and also the manner and procedure of official communication with the chancellor. The rules clearly state that all communications are to be routed through the higher education department, the press release said.

The council further said in the statement: “The VCs are shocked by the content of the note from Raj Bhavan and feel extremely disappointed and humiliated by the spirit of the communication from the chancellor’s office.”

The OSD to the governor wrote to VCs and pro-VCs, mentioning that their absence might lead to consequences in keeping with statutory provisions