Souren Banerjee declines to join as V-C of Dakshin Dinajpur Univ

Balurghat: Souren Banerjee has declined the post of Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of Dakshin Dinajpur University (DDU). On May 31, he received a letter from the office of the West Bengal Governor appointing him as the V-C of the university.

On May 31, Banerjee received a letter via e-mail from the Office of the Bengal Governor regarding the appointment. On Thursday afternoon, news spread on social media, along with a copy of the Governor’s letter in which Banerjee was directed to join as the V-C of DDU.

However, Banerjee did not join. Citing several problems, he sent a letter to the Governor’s office declining the offer.

In his letter, Banerjee said: “I sincerely thank you for giving me the responsibility of Dakshin Dinajpur University as the Vice-Chancellor. Despite my strong desire, I am not in a position to accept this opportunity according to your (Acharya’s) kind wishes.”

Banerjee also sent a copy of the letter to the Principal Secretary of the State Higher Education department and the Personal Secretary of the Education Minister.

Later speaking to the Millennium Post, Banerjee said: “There are several reasons for which I didn’t accept the post of Vice-Chancellorship of Dakshin Dinajpur University. I have been working as a professor at Gour Banga University and there is none to give me the release order to join as V-C of the said University. The appointment of the V-C is for an interim period of three months. The State Higher Education department didn’t approve of the appointment. In these circumstances, I was forced to decline the offer of the Governor.”

Pankaj Kundu, Registrar of DDU and Principal of Balurghat College said: “I have not received any e-mail from the Chancellor or the Higher Education department regarding the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor of Dakshin Dinajpur University.”

Meanwhile, Education Minister Bratya Bose had earlier ‘respectfully requested’ the Vice-Chancellors of 11 universities, who had received direct appointment letters from the Governor on Thursday to reject the same. DDU is also among those 11 universities.

On Thursday, the Education Minister alleged that the appointment was made without any discussion with the Higher Education Department.

DDU has been running without a Vice-Chancellor since March. Owing to this the University is facing several problems, including the disbursement of salary and publication

of results.