Kolkata: The Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government in West Bengal on Thursday tabled in the assembly an amendment Bill that empowers the administration to transfer teaching and non-teaching staffers from one state university to another.
The West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Administration and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 was approved by the state cabinet on September 8. It seeks to add one provision in Section 14A of the existing 2017 Act, which will allow inter-university transfer of both teaching and non-teaching employees as and when required, officials said.
While Adhikari described the Bill, tabled by Higher Education Minister Jagannath Chattopadhyay during a special session of the state assembly, as "important and necessary" and said its passage will be "historic", the move has been opposed by various teachers' associations and academics citing apprehensions of "autonomy compromise" of the institutions and possibilities of "selective targeting" of teachers.
Asked what prompted the decision to amend the existing Act, Adhikari had earlier said, "This is important. There is a ground reality that necessitates the Bill."
"Several experienced professors will go to the new universities. They will guide these universities on what the infrastructure should be like, how classes can be conducted and how they can be turned into centres of excellence," he added.
The "experienced teachers" will be transferred to new universities established in "places like Jhargram and Cooch Behar and will ensure the exchange of human resources", the CM had said.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
