Presi, 5 other univs get permanent VCs after govt sends list to guv
Times of India | 7 December 2024
123 Kolkata: The one-year-five-month-long standoff over the appointment of vice-chancellors at state-run universities partially ended on Friday evening with chief minister Mamata Banerjee proposing her nominees from a shortlist to governor C V Ananda Bose and Raj Bhavan giving the nod to some. The shortlist was prepared by a Supreme Court-appointed committee, headed by former CJI U U Lalit.
The state till late at night issued notifications on the appointment of permanent VCs at six universities, including Presidency, Kalyani and Burdwan universities.
State education minister Bratya Basu in the evening posted on ‘X': "State-aided universities... are getting regular vice-chancellors at long last under the able guidance of Hon'ble Supreme Court. Our whole-hearted thanks to the chairman of the search committee, ex-CJI Justice U U Lalit, who recommended the panel of names. Our sincere gratitude to our Hon'ble chief minister Mamata Banerjee who judiciously prioritised the list. Last but not the least our heartfelt regards to the Hon'ble chancellor who has recommended the names of VCs." Basu added "rule of law prevails", in an apparent indication of the legal back and forth in the Calcutta HC and Supreme Court. The next SC hearing is slated for Monday.
The state higher education department issued a notice late on Friday, announcing the interim VC of Presidency University, Nirmalya Narayan Chakraborty, as the permanent VC there. Rup Kumar Barman was appointed as the permanent VC at Bankura University and Kallol Paul as the permanent VC at Kalyani University. Pabitra Kumar Chakraborti was appointed as the permanent VC at Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University. Amiya Kumar Panda has been named as the permanent VC of Rani Rashmoni Green University and Sankar Nath as the permanent VC at Burdwan University. There was convergence on the names of these six VCs.
During the day, Basu had hinted at the thaw when he announced that the final list of 34 permanent VCs, endorsed by the CM, had been forwarded to Raj Bhavan. The final recommendation from Raj Bhavan came late on Friday, he said. Asked about VC selection, Basu had confirmed, "The list of names of permanent VCs, with the signature of the CM has been sent to Raj Bhavan."
The search panel had held interviews for 36 state universities. They found no suitable candidate for two institutes, and fresh ads were placed for West Bengal University of Health Sciences and RBU. The CMO selected and forwarded the names of VC nominees for the remaining 34 universities to Raj Bhavan.
In July, invoking its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to break the deadlock between Bengal govt and the governor on the VC appointment, SC formed a search and selection panel, headed by ex-CJI U U Lalit, to recommend names to the CM. The SC had said the CM would recommend the shortlisted VC names "in order of preference", and the governor "should appoint the VCs from the names, in the same order".
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