Formation of 5-member search committee: ‘Ordinance consented by Guv & promulgated by state is a valid law’

Kolkata: The ordinance consented by the Governor and promulgated by the State which includes a five-member search committee is a valid law and should be highlighted to the Supreme Court, stated the Educationists’ Forum on Tuesday.

After the direction of the Calcutta High Court for the inclusion of UGC nominees in the Search and Selection committees, the State amended the universities’ laws to include a nominee of the UGC in the search and selection committees through an ordinance in May 2023.

In an ongoing case in Supreme Court wherein the apex court directed the UGC, State and Governor who is also the Chancellor of the state universities to submit three to five names of their respective nominees for a search committee, the Court on September 27 had sought for existing laws and the provisions related to the constitution of the mentioned committee. The hearing is scheduled to take place on October 6.

It is in this context that the Educationists’ Forum, West Bengal, conducted a press conference on Tuesday stating that as per present law it is the ordinance, which provides a five-member search committee for 31 public universities, that prevails. Citing Article 213 of the Indian Constitution, the Forum stated that any ordinance promulgated must be placed before the legislative assembly within six weeks. They stated that it was done in the case of West Bengal and the Legislative Assembly had passed it.

The bill stated that the search-cum-selection committee would have five instead of three members. These five will include a nominee each of the chancellor, the chief minister, UGC, state government and the West Bengal State Council of Higher Education.

“The Hon’ble Chancellor continues to exercise his illegal actions in respect of the universities by authorising/removing/replacing his appointees in various universities even when the entire matter is now pending for decision and Order before the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” the Educationists’ Forum highlighted on Tuesday.

Professor Om Prakash Mishra said: “There are universities which do not have officiating vice-chancellors for three, four and in some cases five months. Even today there is no V-C at Darjeeling Hills University…” He further added that the universities are suffering, and the admission process has been “jeopardised.”