West Bengal: Education minister urges Governor to withdraw notification sent to varsities

Kolkata: West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose had sent notice to all universities stating that any decision which has financial implications may be submitted for prior approval of the Chancellor which is the Governor himself.

“Vice-Chancellors can contact the Hon'ble Chancellor over telephone or mail on any major issue through the ADC (Major Nikhil Kumar),” said the letter sharing the contact details of Major Nikhil Kumar.

Senior secretary will coordinate the university matter with governer

The letter also mentioned that Senior Special Secretary to the Governor Debasis Ghosh will coordinate the university matters with the Governor House. State Education Minister Bratya Basu said that we were in the dark regarding this notification.

'Universities have their own autonomy'

“We would request the Governor to withdraw the notifications. I had asked the Principal Secretary to seek legal advice on the notification. We came to know about the notifications from the VCs. Universities have their own autonomy. We are not the competitors of the Raj Bhawan but a cooperative one,” said Basu.

It may be recalled that Basu along with VCs met the Governor at the Governor House last month and said that they will work in tandem with the Raj Bhawan. The state government had also earlier reconsidered replacing the Governor from being the Chancellor of the Universities.