West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose, who is the Chancellor of all the state-run universities, has asked the Vice-Chancellors of these institutions to submit a weekly activity report to him. They have also been asked to keep him in the loop about any major issue henceforth.
The VCs of two universities informed on Friday, April 7, that they have received a letter in this regard, sent by a joint secretary-level officer of the Governor's Secretariat. "Weekly activity report shall be submitted on the last working day of the week by email and any decision which has financial implications may be submitted for prior approval of the Hon'ble Chancellor," a part of the document reads, as noted in a report by PTI.
"Vice-Chancellors can contact the Hon'ble Chancellor over telephone or mail on any major issue through the ADC (Major Nikhil Kumar)," the letter adds, mentioning the mobile number and email ID for contacting Kumar. It further states that the Senior Special Secretary to Governor Debasis Ghosh will coordinate the university matters at the Raj Bhavan.
The VC of a state-run university, on the condition of anonymity, said that her office has already received the letter, and to her knowledge, different state varsities have received the same. "This is an official communique from the Chancellor's office, asking for weekly updates about the functioning of the educational institute. We will act accordingly. I don't foresee any situation," she said.
The development comes against the backdrop of the West Bengal government reversing its earlier decision to make Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee the Chancellor of state universities during the tenure of Jagdeep Dhankhar. The state had objected to his alleged meddling in the autonomy of state varsities by his various "unilateral" actions including convening meetings with VCs and going against government-recommended names for new VCs.
West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu recently stated that Bose would continue to be the Chancellor of the state universities and the state foresaw no problem working with him on university matters. The governor in early March had held a meeting with the concerned VCs and Basu, for better synergy and coordination in running the academic-administrative affairs, as per PTI.