State plans to remove Governor from Chancellor's post in state-aided univs

Kolkata: The state government is contemplating the removal of Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as Chancellor of the state-aided universities with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assuming interim charge.

"Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is standing in the way of education in the state and is hardly showing any sort of co-operation. He has been delaying files day after day. We will examine legal provisions in the Constitution about this and will even consult legal experts. We will ask the lawyers if as an interim measure, the Chief Minister can become the Chancellor," state Education minister Bratya Basu said.

Interestingly, Basu alluded to Kerala Governor Mohammad Arif Khan's suggestion that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan be made Chancellor of all universities in Kerala.

Basu criticised the Governor of just tweeting and resorting to Facebook without doing anything related to education." He added: "He is forgetting the work of his position. This has never happened before in the history of any Governor. We will look into what the Governor of Kerala has said, whether we can bring the Hon'ble Chief Minister to the post of Chancellor in the interim. When a Governor is saying this about his state, it can happen to all the states in the federal structure," Basu added.

There have been instances in the recent past when Dhankhar has been vocal against the state government after Vice-Chancellors of state universities had skipped a meeting convened by him. Recently, he had summoned the principals and Vice-Chancellors of several private universities of the state to Raj Bhavan. However, they did not turn.

"Emergence of Unionism with State Universities VCs in January 20 & now with Pvt Univ indicative of intense fear quotient and reflective of Rule of ruler and not law. VCs being appointed @MamataOfficial without Chancellor authorisation mockery of law. Forced to take lawful stance," Dhankhar tweeted on Friday. The Governor alleged that the absence of V-Cs indicate that they are following the diktats of the ruling dispensation.