Face-Off Continues: Bengal Governor Accuses Mamata Banerjee Government Of Appointing VCs Without His Approval
Kolkata, Dec 30: Spewing venom against the Mamata Banerjee government, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday claimed it has “appointed” Vice-Chancellors of 24 universities sans the approval of the Chancellor, the ‘appointing authority”, and alleged the decision smacked of sheer ‘disregard of (the) law”.
The governor is the ex-officio Chancellor of all state-run universities in West Bengal.
Taking to Twitter, Dhankhar said, “VCs of 24 Universities appointed @MamataOfficial in disregard of law. ”
“These are ex facie in defiance of specific orders or without approval by Chancellor-the Appointing Authority, ” Dhankhar iterated, as he attached a list of the 24 universities where appointments of vice-chancellors have been made. The list includes Universities like Calcutta, Gaurbanga, Jadavpur, Alipurduar and Burdwan.
Stating the appointments carry no legal sanction, the Governor said he would be forced to take action unless the appointments were recalled soon.
It may be mentioned that state Education Minister Bratya Basu recently said the state government is “mulling removing the Governor and making Chief Minister the Chancellor” of all the Government-run Universities for better coordination.
Basu accused Dhankhar of “holding back files and notes” thereby causing hindrances in the functioning of the Education Ministry.
The run-ins between the Mamata Banerjee Government and Dhankhar have been continuing on a plethora of issues since the governor took office on July 30, 2019. Education, specifically higher education, has seen the maximum slugfest. The governor was even not allowed to attend the convocation of two universities – Calcutta and Jadavpur – where he faced angry protests from students and employees.
