Bill passed to appoint CM as Chancellor of all state-aided agri universities

KOLKATA: The West Bengal Krishi Viswavidyalaya (Second Amendment) Bill 2022 was passed at the state Assembly on Friday paving the way for the Chief Minister of Bengal to be Chancellor of all state-aided agricultural universities by replacing the Governor. There are two agricultural universities in Bengal—Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya and Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidyalaya under the administrative control of the state Agriculture department.

Delivering his reply on the Bill, state Agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said that the curtailment in power of the Governor in regards to educational institution was conceived by none other than Narendra Modi in 2013 when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. However, the then Governor Kamala Beniwal did not allow the Bill to effect this. Later, when Modi became the Prime Minister, the Governor was changed and a Bill was passed in the Assembly that did the needful.

"Change is the only constant and with every passing day, changes are taking place across the globe. The Indian Constitution has been amended 105 times and 295 articles in it have now stood at 448. We needed to bring this change as we have been facing obstacles at various stages in the running of the universities,"he added.

Replying to assertions of a number of BJP legislators who had claimed that an educationist of an expert in agriculture would have made a better Chancellor, the minister argued that it had been witnessed that profound knowledge had not always proved as the only criterion for being the Chancellor of a varsity.

"A Chancellor of a university needs to be knowledgeable as well as an adept administrator. We believe that our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee possesses both these qualities and then BJP friends would also agree with this. So, she (Banerjee) will be the fittest person to be the Chancellor of universities,"he maintained.

Chattopadhyay pointed out that under the leadership of Banerjee, Bengal has earned global recognition for Kanyashree and UNESCO's inclusion of Bengal's Durga Puja in its 'Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of Humanity.'