Kolkata: Coming as a setback to the Trinamool Congress government, President Droupadi Murmu did not give her assent to the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which had proposed to make Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee the Chancellor of all state universities.
With the President's disapproval of the Bill, there will be no change in the post of Chancellor in state-run universities in West Bengal.
As per the existing system, the Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose is the Chancellor of all state universities.
Lok Bhavan (the Governor's residence) has also confirmed that Governor Ananda Bose will continue to perform his duties as Chancellor of the state universities as before.
In 2024, Governor Ananda Bose had sent the Bill, which was passed in the West Bengal Assembly, to President Murmu for her consideration.
The West Bengal Cabinet in 2022 had approved a proposal to appoint Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the Chancellor of state universities.
The Trinamool Congress-led state government had claimed that academic and administrative activities in these universities would gain momentum if Chief Minister Banerjee is made the Chancellor.
Former Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar during whose tenure the Bill was passed had alleged that the Trinamool Congress-led state government was unilaterally appointing Vice-Chancellors in various universities without consulting him.
Meanwhile, some sections of the political and academic community believe that this decision has further escalated the long-standing tension between the West Bengal government and Lok Bhavan.
The Governor, by virtue of their office, serves as the Chancellor of the universities as per the Indian Constitution.
Any change to this system requires extra caution from a Constitutional perspective.
The lack of Presidential assent clearly indicates that legal and Constitutional questions remain regarding the proposed amendments.
The West Bengal government had previously said that these amendments were introduced to resolve the long-standing impasse in appointing Vice-Chancellors to the universities.
On the other hand, the opposition parties had been opposing the Bill from the outset.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the principal opposition party in West Bengal, has claimed that it would undermine the autonomy of the universities and increase political interference in the education system across the state.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
