Bill to let Bengal govt transfer profs across 31 state univs passed
Times of India | 11 September 2026A special session of the assembly passed by a 171-15 majority the West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Administration and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, ending the previous regime that recruited teaching and non-teaching staff for specific universities and did not have any mechanism for inter-university transfers.
The bill’s passage saw CM Suvendu Adhikari carry into the assembly his tirade against Left-leaning professors and students as he called them sympathisers of “anti-national forces” who needed “strict medicines”. “Those who will have problems with these conditions are welcome to quit. Take a jhola (a bag slung on the shoulder), become a full-time worker and sell Ganashakti (the CPM mouthpiece). You can go around the New Market area once in a while with tin containers to collect donations,” he added.
Those using “anti-national words” could be transferred as punishment, he warned. “Those who give appointments (the administration) retain the right to set conditions of appointment. The appointees have no such right,” he asserted, adding: “Universities receiving public money must have accountability.” The new rules would ensure a more balanced distribution of human resources, he reasoned.
The existing university statutes contained provisions for transfer of college professors but there was no corresponding provision for university professors, creating a “legal vacuum” that necessitated this legislation, Adhikari said. Bengal was not the first to implement such a transfer policy, he added, noting similar provisions existed in states like Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. “A similar process has begun in Gujarat and Bihar. We got this done before them,” Adhikari said. The new rules would take precedence over all previous rules, he added, assuring that the changed law would not impact Ph.D supervision or ongoing projects.
“Our experienced professors and non-teaching staff from eight established universities can now share their knowledge and expertise with newer institutions like Jhargram University, Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University and Thakur Panchanan Barma University and help strengthen them,” Adhikari said.
Uuniversities could consider temporary postings or arrangements under which teachers could spend a specified number of days at their parent institutions, he suggested, drawing a parallel with the cluster model proposed under the National Education Policy, 2020. The state would not use the legislation to impose political control over established universities, he assured, but would only redeploy experienced manpower to newer institutions facing staff shortage.
Adhikari focused on violence and alleged irregularities at Jadavpur University and said the state might consider setting up a commission to examine past incidents, including the killing of vice-chancellor Gopal Sen. The amendment was necessary to bring greater discipline to institutions, Adhikari, said, citing media reports regarding admission irregularities and other controversies at JU.
Adhikari also objected to the use of the word “saffronisation” to describe the state’s education policy. “We will not do saffronisation. The Left had earlier followed ‘Anil-isation (referring to former CPM party secretary Anil Biswas’s influence over educational institutions) and the Trinamool Congress followed ‘Mamata-isation’,” he said.
State higher education minister Jagannath Chattopadhyay defended the bill, claiming that nine universities established during the Trinamool Congress regime did not have “even one permanent faculty”. “We are trying to use the expertise of stronger universities to uplift the weaker ones,” he said.
Chattopadhyay also pointed to academic inbreeding within JU. “Sixteen of 41 professors in the Physics department are results of academic inbreeding. Do you think it is a bad idea to give these ‘inbred’ professors some ‘outbreeding’ assignments?” he asked.
The opposition, however, saw in the bill an attempt to muzzle all dissent, CPM MLA Mustafizur Rahman said it was introduced to control “one particular university”. “They cannot combat leftists politically, so now they are trying to curb left parties by bringing such bills. They are basically curbing universities’ autonomy, which will diminish the quality of education,” he said.
Assembly opposition leader Ritabrata Banerjee apprehended that the bill was an attempt to saffronise education and questioned whether it would lead to the selective targeting of opponents. Trinamool MLA Alifa Ahmed (Mamata Banerjee loyalist) feared forced transfers might disrupt Ph.D programmes and ongoing research projects.
