Min holds Guv responsible for JU student’s death, says ‘state not in favour of interim V-Cs in varsities’

Kolkata: State Education minister Bratya Basu on Tuesday held the Governor who is also the Chancellor of the state universities responsible for the death of the first-year student of Jadavpur University (JU).

He further stated that the government is not in favour of appointing interim vice-chancellors (V-Cs) in state universities, as such “ad hoc steps” by Raj Bhavan have resulted in a “chaotic situation in varsities”.

Basu’s comment comes three days after Governor C V Ananda Bose appointed Mathematics professor Buddhadeb Sau as the officiating V-C of JU.

Taking a dig at Bose, the minister said that the files related to the appointment of V-Cs in state-run or state-aided universities are lying “unattended” in the Governor’s office.

“We have sent the recommendations of the Raghavan Committee as well as the Supreme Court’s directions on anti-ragging to all the state universities, including JU, at the beginning of 2023. The implementation of the recommendations rests with the university authorities. In the case of JU, the Governor had appointed a V-C without consulting the state government and then again asked him to resign. We are not aware why he appointed an interim V-C and why he removed him? The unfortunate incident at JU occurred a few days after the Governor-appointed V-C resigned. So, the Governor is responsible for the death,” Basu said in reply to an adjournment motion about JU student’s death brought by the BJP which the Speaker allowed Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari to read and speak in brief.

Governor Bose appointed Amitava Datta as interim V-C of JU in June and then asked him to resign on August 5. The student died in JU on August 9.

“He (the Governor) is not assigning Chancellor’s nominee in the search committees for appointments of V-Cs, deans as well as subject teachers which is delaying the process of appointments in universities as per UGC recommendations,” Basu added.

He made it clear that in the backdrop of the Supreme Court advocating for dialogue to pave the way for the appointment of V-Cs, the state government is ready to sit for discussion. “However, the Governor believes in monologue and not in dialogue,” Basu ruled. He accused the BJP of trying to wrest universities like JU politically and saffronising it by toying with its administrative structure.

“What happened in Jadavpur should not have happened but similar incidents have happened in Central institutions like IIT Kharagpur too in the recent past. The hairline difference between Independence and arbitrariness needs to be stopped in every university be it state or Central. Singling out a particular university is not right,” Basu added.

He said that the state government had formed a fact-finding committee in connection with the incident and it has already prepared a report.

“The report that the university had sent to the UGC after the appointment of a new V-C by the Governor has not satisfied the latter. If the university brings the report sent to the UGC to the forefront, we will also make our fact-finding committee report public which will reveal what steps have been taken on the part of the state,” he maintained.

Adhikari, speaking on the issue, demanded an answer from the minister on why the apex court’s recommendation was not implemented in Jadavpur and the steps taken by the state government after the incident of the student’s death.

Meanwhile, Aritra Majumdar and Rudra, a student of JU, was questioned by the police in the student’s death case on Tuesday.