SC asks Bengal govt & Guv to resolve V-C row amicably

Update: 2025-07-17 19:56 GMT

Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Thursday urged the West Bengal government and Governor CV Anand Bose to amicably settle the remaining issues related to the appointment of vice-chancellors (V-C) in state universities.

The matter was heard by a Bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.

The Governor, who is also the Chancellor of state universities, was represented by Attorney General R Venkataramani. Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Jaideep Gupta appeared for the West Bengal government.

At the outset, the Attorney General reportedly informed the court that all relevant documents, including a report prepared by former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, had been submitted in a sealed cover. He expressed willingness to collaborate with the state’s counsel to resolve the matter: “I can assure that we (with Singhvi) can sit together and find out how best we can resolve the matter,” he said.

The court reportedly directed that the sealed report be shared with both parties. “Let the copy of the report submitted by Justice UU Lalit be supplied to learned counsels for the parties, for them to be able to assist the Court,” the Bench ordered.

Justice Surya Kant, referring to the report, noted that in 19 universities, the Governor had approved the first preference recommended by the Chief Minister in most cases. Of these, 17 appointments were undisputed. In one case, the approved candidate had not yet taken charge. For the rest, second and third preference candidates had been accepted in seven and eight universities respectively. Only two appointments remained unresolved.

The matter will be taken up again for hearing after ten days.

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