Can CM be interim chancellor in guv’s place? State explores

Can CM be interim chancellor in guv’s place? State explores

Governor Seeks UGC Probe Into Role Of Private Univs

Poulami.Roy@timesgroup.com

Kolkata:25.12.2021

The Bengal government is seeking legal opinion on whether the chief minister can be made the chancellor of state-run universities for an interim period as the governor, the present chancellor, has failed to see anything positive in Bengal universities, education minister Bratya Basu said on Friday.

“We will explore the constitutional provisions and take legal advice on whether this can be done at a provincial level,” he said in response to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s statement that he would like to call for a UGC probe into private universities’ role. Basu took it as a threat and said: “After CBI and ED, UGC is being used as a threat.”

The statement comes after Dhankhar took to Twitter to post a video in which he said none of the 11 private university chancellors or vicechancellors had heeded his invitation – as the university visitor and governor – to attend a Raj Bhavan meeting on December 23.

The governor said he would urge UGC to “seriously probe” the role of private universities since these have “breached their roles regarding the visitor”, and asked the Bengal government to reexamine appointments of all vice-chancellors.

Dhankhar complained that VCs were appointed bypassing him and said the situation was “alarming which indicated the rule of the ruler and not law”.

Vice-chancellors staying away from a Raj Bhavan meeting was not the first such instance. In January 2020, vicechancellors of state-run universities didn’t turn up for a meeting at Raj Bhavan, sparking a war of words. In the present instance, the private university heads had cited “Omicron” and their personal health fears due to age and comorbidities.

Basu said: “It is sad that we hear nothing positive from him (Dhankhar). He must shed this confrontationist attitude and work as an enabler. He now cites unionism and gives the threat of UGC. Like CBI and ED, UGC now comes to the list. You can’t expect anything more from a person who had been the legal aide of a movie star implicated in killing deer.”

Basu further said: “But if he continuously sits on files, delays decisions and appointments, we will explore the suggestion made by the Kerala governor and consider whether as an interim measure, we can replace him by the chief minister as university chancellor.”

Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan had, in an attempt to end animosity with his own government, written to CM Pinarayi Vijayan to take over as chancellor so that the governor didn’t have to interfere in “political appointments” in his role as chancellor.

The Bengal government had in 2019 curbed the chancellor’s role after it felt that the governor was standing in the way of education matters.

Full report on www.toi.in

Education minister Bratya Basu said the government will explore the Kerala governor’s suggestion and consider whether as an interim measure the Bengal governor can be replaced by the CM as university chancellor