Amid the running row over the appointment of officials in the state-run universities between Raj Bhavan and the state government, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose, in a video message on Thursday, asserted that he will continue his fight to make state universities “free of corruption and violence”, and alleged that some of the interim Vice-Chancellors recommended by the state government were “corrupt and had sexual harassment charges against them”.
His comment comes at a time when the state government and the Raj Bhavan are embroiled in a war of words over the appointments of interim vice-chancellors of some state universities by Bose. The Governor appointed acting V-Cs in 16 universities late on Sunday night.
“I want universities in the state to be free of violence and be the best in India,” Governor Bose said, and promised in the name of Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Chandra and Swami Vivekananda to continue to fight for a “corruption-free academia”.
Speaking about the Raj Bhavan’s recent move to appoint interim VCs, Bose said, “I have appointed them as apex court ruled against some of the appointments earlier made by the state government. There were allegations of corruption, sexual harassment and political interference against some VCs who were earlier appointed…five VCs who resigned told me in confidence that they received threats.”
Meanwhile, the Governor on Tuesday night appointed Professor Kajal De as the officiating VC of the newly established Kanyashree University. He had earlier appointed officiating V-Cs of seven universities, including the premiere Presidency University. The appointments came hours after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched an unprecedented attack on the Governor at a Teacher’s Day event earlier in the day.
The CM threatened to block funds if “any college or university obeys the Governor”.
Banerjee said at the event, “The Governor says he alone will oversee colleges and universities in the state. Have you ever heard that a V-C was changed in the middle of the night? Former IPS officers and former judges have been brought in overnight (as V-Cs of universities)… He appointed a BJP man as the V-C of Jadavpur University (JU) at midnight. He made a Kerala-cadre IPS officer the V-C of a sensitive Aliah University, and recruited a person with no academic experience as the V-C of Rabindra Bharati University (RBU).”
“If any college or university obeys the Governor, I will block their funds. Let’s see how the V-C is given a salary. I will see how professors, teachers and employees are given salaries in universities,” Mamata said, as quoted by The Indian Express.
Mamata further lashed out at the Governor alleging a “conspiracy” to destroy the system.
“We will not allow this to continue. If the Governor thinks he is bigger than the CM, we will fight back. He should not forget that he has been nominated to that post,” she said.
The row between the Banerjee-led state government and the Governor has been continuing since he became the Governor in November 2022. Immediately after he took over the position, Dhankhar had alleged that the state government had appointed Vice Chancellors without informing him, the ex-officio Chancellor of all state universities.