West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has appointed Buddhadeb Sau as the officiating Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University. Sau is the head of the Mathematics department at Jadavpur University, reported PTI.
The appointment comes at a time when the state-run varsity is facing criticism over the death of a first-year undergraduate student after being allegedly ragged and sexually harassed recently.
The tenure of the varsity's last full-time Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das, who served for nine years, ended on May 31.
Following that, Bose who also acts as the university’s chancellor, appointed Amitabha Datta, the pro-VC of the varsity, as the officiating vice-chancellor but he resigned on August 4. Datta had resigned after being asked by the governor.
In another controversy, the Science faculty dean at JU, Professor Subenoy Chakraborty, also resigned from the university citing personal reasons, PTI stated. "This is to inform you that I am resigning from the post of Dean, Faculty of Science, Jadavpur University due to some personal reason," the professor wrote.
His resignation seems to have come after the appointment of a new vice-chancellor.
Centre concerned over student’s death
Meanwhile, the centre has shown concern over the recent allegations of ragging and sexual assault in the university allegedly leading to a student’s death on August 9.
On Sunday, August 20, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the centre has taken the incident seriously and has urged the UGC to take the strictest action as per law in the case, added PTI.
Condemning the 17-year-old boy's death at a hostel just three days into his first-year undergraduate course in the Bengali department, he said that the incident is very worrisome.
"Questions are being raised whether an anti-ragging cell was there (at the university) and if so, what were its activities, if CCTVs were in place or not, why outsiders were allowed to stay in the hostel," Pradhan said, while speaking at an event in Kolkata.
It is alleged that several former students of the varsity stay in hostels and a few of them resort to ragging of freshers.
The minister said that the UGC is not satisfied with the report given by the university authorities over the boy's death after falling from the second-floor balcony of the main boys' hostel.
The UGC had also voiced dissatisfaction after getting the preliminary report from the university on the incident, labelling it as a “generic” one, an official of the statutory body said in Delhi.
The police have so far arrested 13 people, all former and current students of the university, in connection with the death of the student.
