JU acting registrar, finance officer removed
Times of India | 10 September 2026A letter from the higher education department circulated on Wednesday said the chancellor had appointed history department associate professor Debajit Dutta as registrar and arts faculty secretary Indrajit Banerjee as finance officer — for six months or until further orders. The appointments were proposed by the higher education department.
In his Aug 26 order, the chancellor cited the reasons for the removals, stating that the EC had failed to initiate the statutory process for permanent appointments to the posts of registrar and finance officer. He also said continuing the “acting” arrangements beyond the permissible periods under sections 11(3) and 13(3) of the Jadavpur University Act, 1981, had been detrimental to the university’s administration, academic governance and financial discipline.
Mandal and Chatterjee had held their posts since Dec 2025. Their removal followed demands from the RSS-backed teachers’ organisation Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh (ABRSM), which wrote to the governor and higher education minister, and the BMS-affiliated Paschimbanga Visvavidyalaya Karmachari Sangh, which held a yajna and staged continuous demonstrations.
VC Chiranjib Bhattacharjee said, “I hope both of them will work efficiently and do whatever is necessary for the betterment of JU.”
He added: “We have always taken the initiative to appoint a permanent registrar and finance officer. We issued advertisements in Dec and received applications for both posts during the previous govt’s tenure. After the new govt came to power, we wanted to restart the process and complete the recruitment. The committee requires a govt nominee, a chancellor’s nominee, two EC nominees and the VC as chairperson. We finalised our EC nominees recently. Once the govt’s and chancellor’s nominees are appointed and we get the go-ahead, we will begin the recruitment process.”
Responding to questions about the EC’s functioning, he said: “The EC is a democratic forum, and as its chairman, I am accountable if it does anything illegal. When the extensions of the registrar and finance officer were approved, both the chancellor’s and govt’s nominees were present, and the decision was unanimous.”
JUTA assistant general secretary Arindam Sil criticised the governor’s intervention. “As per the legal opinion sought by JU, sections 11(3) and 13(3) do not apply when the offices of registrar and finance officer fall vacant due to expiry of tenure or otherwise. The six-month statutory limit applies only to temporary arrangements made when an existing permanent registrar or whole-time finance officer is temporarily unable to serve. The EC is competent to make interim arrangements pending regular appointments. This is an attack on the autonomy of the institution.”
ABRSM president Bhaskar Sardar welcomed the order. “We repeatedly highlighted that extension of tenure was unlawful. Through the removal of the illegal registrar and finance officer, our just demands have been vindicated. We hope that action will be taken against the remaining illegal decisions in the coming days.”
