Kolkata: The Raj Bhavan has invited six academics—whose names were cleared by the Supreme Court for appointment as permanent vice-chancellors (V-Cs) of six state-aided universities—to an interaction on Monday, October 27, at 5 pm, raising expectations of a breakthrough in the long-stalled appointment process.
According to sources, Raj Bhavan officials contacted the six individuals on Thursday to invite them to the meeting. The move follows the Supreme Court’s October 6 order, in which a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi ruled that there was “no impediment” to proceeding with appointments to the six universities.
The ruling came after extensive hearings on the prolonged dispute between the Bengal government and the Governor—who is also the Chancellor of all state-aided universities—over the process of V-C appointments. The universities cleared for permanent V-C appointments are Calcutta University, Jadavpur University, Gour Banga University, Kazi Nazrul University, Sadhu Ramchand Murmu University and Biswa Bangla Biswavidyalaya.
As per official sources, Ashutosh Ghosh is set to be appointed V-C of Calcutta University, while Chiranjib Bhattacharya—currently president of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education and former Registrar and Pro-V-C of Jadavpur University—is expected to head Jadavpur University. The others are Ashis Bhattacharya (University of Gour Banga), Uday Bandyopadhyay (Kazi Nazrul University), Chandradipa Ghosh (Sadhu Ramchand Murmu University), and Abu Taleb (Biswa Bangla Biswavidyalaya).
Although the Supreme Court issued its order more than two weeks ago, the state’s Higher Education department has yet to receive final approval from the Raj Bhavan. On October 14, the department wrote to the Governor’s office seeking the required clearance to implement the appointments. Officials indicated that Monday’s meeting could pave the way for the long-awaited approvals.
While the apex court’s order cleared the way for appointments to these six universities, matters relating to the selection of vice-chancellors in remaining universities were scheduled to be taken up in chambers on October 15. However, the hearing was deferred and is now scheduled for November 10.