8 candidates appear before panel as VC interview starts
Times of India | 20 August 2025
Kolkata: Eight vice-chancellor candidates appeared before the former CJI-led committee as the final round of interviews for the appointment of VCs at 14 state universities began on Tuesday. The panel, led by ex-CJI U U Lalit, will conduct the process till Thursday.
The names will be finalised before Aug 28, as indicated by state education minister Bratya Basu recently. The selection process started with three universities —Calcutta University, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (Makaut) and North Bengal University. Each university was assigned an one-hour slot, when eight out of nine shortlisted VC candidates appeared for interviews for the three universities. While all the three shortlisted candidates for each of MAKAUT and NBU appeared before the search panel, for CU, only two VC-aspirants—Asutosh Ghosh and Debatosh Guha—came. The third shortlisted VC candidate for CU, Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee, has already been appointed by the Supreme Court as the Rabindra Bharati University VC.
An official said six universities—Jadavpur University, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Education University, Netaji Subhas Open University, Biswa Bangla University, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya and Sadhu Ramchand Murmu University—were scheduled for Wednesday. On Thursday, Raiganj University, Sanskrit College and University, Diamond Harbour Women's University, Gour Banga University and Harichand Guruchand University are slated.
While the search panel was formed to appoint VCs to 17 state universities, the process is not being conducted for two. Barasat University, where Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee was earlier the VC, has not been included this time. Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, has been excluded as SC already appointed Sanchari Mukhopadhyay as its VC. A legal battle has been on over state university VC appointments. A search panel for the selection of VCs, led by the former CJI, was formed. It conducted the selection process, based on a consensus between governor C V Ananda Bose and CM Mamata Banerjee, and appointed 19 VCs. But the process was stalled for 17 varisities amid lack of unanimity on names. To resolve the issue, the SC directed a final round of interviews be held, where three shortlisted candidates for each varsity should appear for selection. Of the 17, Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University already got its VC.