Guv removes JU acting VC 4 days before his retirement
Times of India | 29 March 2025
1234 Kolkata: Governor C V Ananda Bose ordered the removal of Jadavpur University (JU) interim vice-chancellor Bhaskar Gupta from his administrative post on Thursday, four days before Gupta's scheduled superannuation. The decision, conveyed through a letter on Friday, has plunged the campus — which lacks a permanent registrar, finance officer, deans and now a VC — into administrative limbo.
Senior academics could not remember any instance — at least in recent memory — where a VC was removed so unceremoniously, so close to retirement. Gupta is scheduled to retire March 31 (Monday) as a professor of the electronics and telecommunications engineering department. But Friday was his last working day, as the university will be shut till Tuesday on account of the weekend and Eid.
The shock decision prompted education minister Bratya Basu to decry the "childishness prevailing in the education system" and Raj Bhavan's "bankruptcy of thought".
The letter from the governor — who is also the university's chancellor — states that the authorisation given to Gupta on April 20, 2024 — to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University till further orders — is withdrawn, and shall "come into effect immediately."
Gupta reached the campus around 11am on Friday and was surprised to learn he had been removed. He entered the VC's room, but did not occupy the VC's chair. "I sat on the other side of the vice-chancellor's table, as I can no longer sit on that chair nor see any official documents in my capacity as VC," he said.
Gupta said he had "nothing much to say except that a ‘deadlock situation' has been created in the university." He added that he had anticipated just such a situation, and had written to the higher education department, informing it about his scheduled retirement on March 31 ."The higher education department had informed the chancellor (about the retirement), but no one knew that the outcome would be this," he said.
Gupta also refrained from chairing a meeting of the institute industry partnership cell as VC. He attended, as a teacher and alumnus.
Basu told the press that the governor had plunged JU into an administrative limbo. "Rabindra Bharati University and Calcutta University are heading towards a limbo. Now, JU has been shut down as well," Basu said. "The manner in which the VC was removed from his position three days before his retirement as professor is insulting. It reflects a bankruptcy of thought. Childishness is prevailing in the education system. We will seek Supreme Court's opinion on this matter. Let the Supreme Court look into this."
Basu said that following the top court's directive, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had sent a panel of three candidates for the position of a permanent VC six weeks ago, but the governor "had not accepted" the list.
Only 19 of the 36 state-run universities have permanent VCs now.
Teachers felt the chancellor's move of removing Gupta was undignified and unbecoming of a chancellor, and questioned the intent and consequences of the decision.
Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) assistant general secretary Rajyeswar Sinha said: "JU has been running without a permanent VC for almost two years now. Under such a circumstance, removing the acting VC without appointing a permanent one is pushing the university towards an administrative suspension. It is an impulsive move. We would urge the governor, as a guardian of the university, to act responsibly and sort out the impasse by appointing a permanent VC at the earliest."
Debabrata Bera, convener of All Bengal University Teachers' Association (ABUTA), said: "This reckless decision has plunged Jadavpur University into a constitutional crisis, leaving the institution headless for an uncertain period. The manner in which the VC was removed, just days before his retirement, is an insult to the dignity of the post and the university as a whole."
Manojit Mandal, an English department professor and the state govt's nominee to JU EC, said: "The chancellor has unceremoniously and in complete violation of an SC order, shown the door to Bhaskar Gupta."
Selim Box Mandal, WBCUPA assistant vice-president, felt the abrupt dismissal of the JU VC was a move by the governor "to showcase his power".
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