Amid an ongoing dispute between Governor CV Ananda Bose and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Supreme Court of India has mandated that regular vice-chancellors be appointed to all 36 state-aided universities in West Bengal.
On July 8, the Supreme Court appointed a search-cum-selection committee led by former Chief Justice UU Lalit to manage the appointments. In a ruling issued on July 29, the court emphasised that no interim appointments should be made.
“To be more specific, it is clarified that there shall be appointment of regular vice-chancellors in all the 36 state-aided universities,” a bench of Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan said.
The court also approved a recommendation that vice-chancellors at Aliah University, West Bengal University of Health Sciences, and West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences have a retirement age of 65. For the remaining universities, the retirement age will be set at 70.
The Justice Lalit-led panel has been given broad authority to shortlist qualified candidates for the vice-chancellor positions and may include additional experts at the chairperson’s discretion. The court also authorised the panel to form separate or joint committees based on the specific disciplines of each university.