Subhro Kamal Mukherjee takes charge as interim V-C of RBU

Kolkata: Former Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Subhro Kamal Mukherjee took charge as the interim Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of Rabindra Bharati University on Friday.

Amidst the debate around his appointment, Mukherjee said that he is not a political person.

Before leaving for the BT Road campus of RBU, Mukherjee visited the university’s Jorasanko campus on Friday and paid his respects to Rabindranath Tagore as well as took a brief tour of the varsity.

When asked about the work he will start off with after resuming the interim V-C position, Mukherjee said that in the absence of a V-C for a long time, there must be many files pending. Amongst these files, he will try to attend to the urgent ones.

After the three-month tenure of Nirmalya Narayan Chakrabarti, a professor of philosophy at the university had ended on June 8, the university remained without a V-C.

It was informed on July 5 that Governor CV Ananda Bose, who is also the Chancellor of the state university had formed a Peace and Social integration committee headed by former Chief Justice Subhro Kamal

Mukherjee who consented to be the interim V-C of the RBU.

“The Committee will study the menace of violence in society, how it will affect the student community, the future generation and the education system in the state of West Bengal,” a statement informed.

Retired judge Mukherjee studied at Calcutta University and started his career as an advocate in the Calcutta High Court in 1982.

He was made a judge in 2000. In 2015 he was transferred to Karnataka High Court, where he became CJ in 2016.

Debates had arisen over Mukherjee’s appointment. Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar tweeted: “CM n elected Govt come through political route but Governor cannot do tit-for-tat politics — as he did not come up through politics and elections. This new “V-C” was the most controversial judge of Bangalore High Court — who was so notorious that he was packed off without farewell.”