Kolkata: West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose, who is also the Chancellor of all state-aided universities, has appointed six permanent vice-chancellors (V-Cs), including for Calcutta University and Jadavpur University.
The announcement was first made on Wednesday through a post on the official X handle of the Bengal Governor. Soon after, the state Higher Education Department issued appointment letters to the selected academicians after receiving files containing the Governor’s formal approval. By late evening, all six appointees had received their letters.
According to the letters, each appointment will take effect from the date of joining and will remain valid for four years or until the incumbent attains the age of seventy, whichever is earlier.
Ashutosh Ghosh has been appointed vice-chancellor of Calcutta University (CU), which had been functioning without a permanent head for nearly three years. Ghosh had earlier served as interim V-C of CU for a year (July 2016–July 2017). At Jadavpur University (JU), which has been without a permanent head since mid-2023 — and without even an interim V-C for nearly seven months — Chiranjib Bhattacharjee has been appointed to the top post. Bhattacharjee, currently president of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE), said his initial priorities would be to conduct the convocation smoothly — held annually on December 24 — and to fill up vacant officers’ posts.
The other V-C appointments include Abu Taleb Khan for Biswa Bangla Biswavidyalaya, Chandradipa Ghosh for Sadhu Ramchand Murmu University, Jhargram, Ashis Bhattacharjee for Gour Banga University, and Uday Bandyopadhyay for Kazi Nazrul University.
State Education Minister Bratya Basu welcomed the development, posting on X: “Today, six state-aided universities got vice-chancellors who were the Chief Minister’s first choices. My heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to all of them.” The appointments follow the Supreme Court’s ruling on October 6, in which a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi held that there was “no impediment” to proceeding with appointments to the six universities. During the hearing, the state government and Raj Bhavan reached a consensus on the six names. The ruling came after extensive hearings on the prolonged dispute between the Bengal government and the Governor over the process of V-C appointments.
On October 27, the Governor met the six selected individuals at Raj Bhavan in what officials described as a “positive” and “cordial” interaction, after which the final approvals were granted.