Guv takes steps to ensure varsities sans V-Cs do not lag behind
Kolkata: Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose, the Chancellor of the state universities, is taking proactive steps to ensure that universities currently without Vice-Chancellors (V-Cs) are not left orphaned.
Bose on Saturday interacted with the next in charge (Registrars) of two universities that are presently running without V-Cs and gave instructions to ensure that no work of the universities gets hampered due to the vacancy in the post of V-C.
The Registrar, MAKAUT (Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology) Partha Pratim Lahiri flagged certain pressing problems of the University currently, such as construction activities of the university being struck, NAAC approval matters, AICTE approval matters, NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 matters.
The Chancellor specifically directed that every step should be taken to ensure that students do not face any difficulty either in academics, examinations, or hostel matters. As far as teachers are concerned, he would like to interact with all the teachers and will make field visits to the universities as often as required.
During interactions with the Registrar of Dakshin Dinajpur University, Pankaj Kundu, the Chancellor was briefed that the varsity currently does not have permanent faculty or a permanent campus. Adequate financial grants have also not been made available so far. For further discussions, the Registrar was asked to meet the Chancellor as required. The Chancellor categorically asked the two functionaries of the two universities to be in touch with the Chancellor concerning any difficulties being faced by them.
Governor Bose recently played a leading role in resolving the impasse regarding V-Cs of nearly 30 varsities. The Supreme Court judgement of October 11, 2022 mandated UGC norms to be followed in appointment of V-Cs, irrespective of contradictory provisions in the State Acts. Bose in strict adherence to UGC norms called the V-Cs whose appointments were declared ab initio null and void by the October 2022 verdict and informed them of the implications of the court’s verdict. The V-Cs gracefully opted to resign, thus, obviating the serving of termination notices. To avoid disruption of university functions, they were granted interim appointments for three months.
