Amid the standoff at Jadavpur University (JU) caused by West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose's expulsion of Officiating Vice-Chancellor Buddhadeb Sau more than two weeks ago, the university's teachers' association today, Wednesday, January 10, declared a sit-in protest on January 16 as part of the Save JU campaign.
Faculty members will participate in the sit-in and wear a black cloth over their mouths from 2 pm to 3 pm, as announced by Partha Pratim Roy, General Secretary of the Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA), to press for the primary demand of having a permanent vice-chancellor appointed to the university as soon as possible and as per guidelines, reports PTI.
Due to this standoff, the academic and administrative functioning of the institution is being hampered, claims the JUTA.
"We will also apprise students, researchers, teachers and other officials about the project and work stalled in the present situation...," he said.
As one of the parties impacted by the current standstill, Roy stated that a few association members supported getting legal counsel to petition the Supreme Court to resolve the impasse, "but a lot more deliberations need to be made before any such move".
Who's to blame?
Chancellor CV Ananda Bose was blamed by the All Bengal University Teachers Association (ABUTA) for the standoff in a statement, citing his "autocratic step to remove the VC on the eve of convocation which can only harm the functioning of the university as the power is vested on the VC".
"Despite knowing very well that he cannot appoint any interim VC at this juncture since the matter is pending before the Supreme Court", Bose went ahead with the decision to remove Sau which only created a logjam in the academic and administrative functions of JU, ABUTA JU chapter Convenor Debabrata Bera said.
"His sudden decision to remove Sau just before the convocation is disrespectful to the university stakeholders, the professors and students and disrespectful to the issue of autonomy," the ABUTA said, pleading with the governor to take the initiative to break the standoff.
The remarks made by Officiating Vice-Chancellor Buddhadeb Sau, who stated that he does not think it "prudent" to attend office and carry out duties as the Officiating VC "till the air is cleared", came before the JUTA and ABUTA declarations.
"I prefer to wait..."
"I prefer to wait for the Supreme Court decision (on the appointment of VCs in the state universities). Accordingly, I am not going to the office of the JU VC", he said.
On August 17 of last year, Raj Bhavan named Sau the Officiating Vice-
Bose and the Department of Higher Education have clashed over who gets appointed as the officiating vice-chancellor of state-run universities.
Following the governor's decision to appoint officiating VCs between June and August without consulting the state, the state approached the Supreme Court regarding the appointment of permanent VCs at 31 state universities, including Jadavpur University and Calcutta University. The case is currently pending.
"Due to the ongoing legal and administrative confusion caused by a series of communications, especially from the chancellor's office and the related communications from the state government regarding the functioning of the interim VC JU, I prefer to wait for the decision of the Supreme Court," Sau had said.
Even though the state government intervened and the university convocation took place on the planned day, the governor declared the state's support of the fired VC to be "unauthorised and illegal" the next day.
