Basu said such a situation had never been witnessed since Independence. “Like the governor-general of British-ruled India, the Bengal governor is now trying to run a parallel system in our state universities, ignoring the government. He had appointed interim VCs as desired by him and is yet to replace them despite the expiry of their term,” the minister alleged.

The Governor is the chancellor of state universities. “He had been given a list of interim VCs by us recently for the sake of ending the stalemate in the functioning of universities. But he is yet to act on it,” the minister told reporters on Saturday evening.

Basu said the higher education department did not want to go into a confrontation with the Governor on the issue of appointment of VCs. There was no reaction from Raj Bhavan about Basu’s allegation.

The minister also referred to the bill passed by the assembly last year for appointing the chief minister as the chancellor of state universities and claimed that “this remains within the framework of the Constitution in a federal structure”.

BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the TMC should not speak about the federal structure “as the ruling party in the state is found to be constantly flouting the Constitution and killing democracy”.