Crisis in West Bengal Institutions: Governor Accused of Parallel Management
Education Minister Bratya Basu Raises Concerns Over State Universities' Operations
Governor C V Ananda Bose has been accused by West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu of causing an unparalleled crisis in the operation of state institutions, which have been operating without permanent vice chancellors for the last nine to ten months.
According to Basu, nothing like this has happened since Independence.
"The governor of Bengal is now attempting to manage a parallel system at our state universities, disobeying the government, much like the governor-general in British-ruled India. The minister said that while the temporary VCs' tenure had expired, he had appointed them as per his request and had not yet replaced them.
The chancellor of public universities is the governor.
"We recently provided him with a list of temporary venture capitalists (VCs) in an attempt to break the impasse in university operations. However, he has not yet taken action on it," the minister said to reporters on Saturday night.
As president of the West Bengal College and University Professors Association (WBCUPA), Basu stated that "any such situation will be detrimental for the interest of students and will hamper academic activities further" and that the higher education department did not want to confront the governor about the appointment of VCs.
Raj Bhavan remained silent over Basu's accusation.
The minister said that "this remains within the framework of the Constitution in a federal structure" and cited the measure approved by the assembly last year designating the chief minister as the chancellor of state colleges.
"The law has not received the governor's approval. We find his behavior unacceptable," he said.
According to Basu, in order to break the deadlock over the appointment of permanent VCs at 31 state institutions, the state is awaiting the Supreme Court's ruling.
The TMC shouldn't talk about the federal structure, according to BJP spokesman Samik Bhattacharya, "because the ruling party in the state is found to be constantly flouting the Constitution and killing democracy."
