Bratya invites registrars of 31 state univs for meet on Friday

In the wake of the series of appointments of vice-chancellors by the Governor, State Higher Education minister Bratya Basu has called the registrars of 31 state-aided universities across the state for a meeting at Bikash Bhavan on Friday, September 8.

The meeting assumes significance in the backdrop of Governor C V Ananda Bose, who is also the Chancellor of state universities, appointing interim vice-chancellors to as many as 16 universities in the state allegedly without any consultation with the state government.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Tuesday, directed Basu to hold a meeting with the administration of different universities. The invitations to the registrars were sent within a few hours of Banerjee’s direction.

Basu will be reviewing how the varsities are being run in the current context.

According to sources, the minister will take stock of the different directions given by the Governor. The meeting will start with the registrars of Calcutta University, Jadavpur University, Rabindra Bharati University and Sanskrit College and University at 2 pm.

After 15 minutes, another four to five registrars will speak with the minister and the same process will be repeated at a 15-minute interval. The registrars will be free to share their problems, if any, concerning administrative matters of the respective varsities they are in charge of.

Meanwhile, tension between the state and Raj Bhavan further increased with the Governor appointing yet another interim V-C to a state university on Tuesday midnight.

Bose is learnt to have appointed Professor Kajal De as the officiating V-C of Kanyashree University.

A Raj Bhavan statement read: “Hon’ble Chancellor today appointed Prof Kajal De Vice-Chancellor (officiating) of Kanyashree University, West Bengal”. De, so far, was discharging duties as the interim V-C of Diamond Harbour Women’s University after being appointed by Bose.

The move came right after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee threatened to impose an embargo on funds for universities who would choose to follow the ‘diktats’ of Raj Bhavan. She has threatened to stop the salaries of the V-Cs. Mamata has also threatened that if Raj Bhavan continues to bypass the state government in appointing V-Cs, she may sit on a dharna outside Raj Bhavan.

She had also reminded the Governor that his position is a nominated one while that of the state government is an elected one.