Assembly passes Bill to institute CM as Chancellor of veterinary varsity

KOLKATA: The West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences (Amendment) Bill 2022 was passed at the state Assembly on Wednesday with the objective of replacing the Governor as chancellor with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Bill was passed by a voice vote after opposition BJP MLAs staged a walkout, while state Animal Resources Development minister Swapan Debnath was giving his reply to the Bill after nearly 90 minutes of discussion in which both Trinamool Congress BJP legislators took part.

It has been proposed that the Vice-Chancellor can hold office till he/ she attains the age of seventy. This age limit is 65 at present.

The Punchi Commission in its report recommended that to be able to discharge the constitutional obligations fairly and impartially , the Governor should not be burdened with positions and responsibilities which are not envisaged under the constitution and which may expose the august office to controversies or public criticism. "Making the Governor, the chancellor of the universities may have had some relevance historically which has ceased to do so, with the change of circumstances,"Debnath said.

Partha Chatterjee, state Parliamentary Affairs minister said that BJP has not participated in voting knowing full well that they will lose. "However, such practice is not desirable. They had acted in similar fashion on Tuesday when the West Bengal Private University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was passed at the state Assembly," he added.