Higher education institutes in West Bengal are known for their vibrant -sometimes violent- political culture. However, the political epicentre in campuses has recently moved from the students to the state’s usual source for daily political tamasha- the office of the Governor and the state government.
The acrimonious relationship between Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal government is known to all. The latest manifestation of this is when the state government denied permission to the Governor, who is the Chancellor of all state-aided universities, to hold a virtual conference with the Vice Chancellors of these universities, scheduled for 15 July.
According to the Governor, the government allegedly said that “that there is no provision for Virtual Conference with Vice Chancellors under the Rules” and that the same was “not required”.
Since then, the Governor, at a rate of at least three tweets a day, has been emphasizing on how student issues are "top priority” for him.
But this is not the first time that the Trinamool Congress government and the Governor have locked horns over who runs state universities in West Bengal, and almost all the time, it is the Vice Chancellors and their allegiances that have been the bone of contention.
Tussle Over Who Controls Vice Chancellors
Earlier this year, the Governor had called a meeting with Vice Chancellors of all 21 universities under the state government at the Raj Bhavan.
In what was seen as an epic snub, not even one Vice Chancellor turned up for the meeting.
According to a PTI report, when asked why he didn’t attend the meeting, a Vice Chancellor just said that he had “other commitments”.
Others stated that the West Bengal Universities and College (Administration and Regulation) Act 2017, does not allow a Vice Chancellor to attend a meeting with the Chancellor, without getting a nod from the higher education department.
In June this year, the Burdwan University had two pro-Vice Chancellors for a while.
First, in a notification from the Raj Bhavan, the Governor appointed Professor Gautam Chandra as the pro-VC of the University in a move that was without the consent of the state government.
The state government hit back, calling the governor a “BJP man” and a few hours after the Raj Bhavan notification, issued its own notification appointing Dr. Ashish Kumar Panigrahi, as the new pro-VC.
According to the rules, the Chancellor has to take a decision regarding any University appointment from a list provided to him by the state government.
The Governor, on the other hand, says that he just has to consult the state government but not follow their diktat- creating what can only be described as a clash of egos, amidst which the functioning of an educational institution was stuck.
The Governor eventually bowed out saying that “this was not the opportune time for controversies in the education system.”
When asked about this tussle over who the Vice Chancellors report to and their alleged indiscretions, Governor Dhankhar told The Quint:
“If a Vice Chancellor does not go by the diktat of the chancellor, he will face consequences in law, and I’m sure they must be fully aligned to it. These things can be withstood only up to a limit. If Vice Chancellors think that someone in the government can protect them even after they commit an act of indiscretion or disobedience to the directory of the Chancellor, they may be in for serious surprise.”
This, however, tussle translated into yet another controversy recently when the Governor showcaused the Vice Chancellor of the Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University for his inability to “take appropriate legally mandated necessary steps by way of information to the Chancellor who has authority to preside over the convocation”.
Basically, the Governor took offence to not being invited to the convocation of this University which he claims he’s “legally mandated to attend”.
While we agree that not inviting the Governor may, just may, be disrespectful, does it really merit a showcause? Well, not if one goes by the University Act.
We took a look at the order from the Raj Bhavan and it merely says that the VC has been showcaused under Section 9 (7) of the Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University Act. This section only states that the Governor has the power to showcause and remove the VC if he’s convinced, among other things, of dereliction of duty and politically partisan behaviour.
Nowhere does the Act mandate that the Governor has to preside over administrative events such as the convocation.
The Governor’s rishta with not being available to attend convocations, is however, quite purana. In the past, he also had to exit the Calcutta University convocation after mass protests at the venue. This is the convocation in which Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee was supposed to get an honorary doctorate. The Governor had also faced a similar situation in Jadavpur University.
“Who saved the day for Calcutta University? It was your Governor", said Dhankhar, commenting on the episode.
"If I had not signed the D.Litt, could it have been given? Unless I signed it, it could not have been given to the Nobel Laureate”, he added.
“I cannot hurt the feeling of Bengali mind. I cannot hurt the feeling of Bengali intellect. I thought for their sake, for their Bhadra Purush, I thought let me bend. I bent for whom? Not hooliganism. Not for a small group that engaged in violence. I bent for the sublimity and richness of Bengali culture," he further stated, saying that the protestors were not students but "10-20 people" who were manufacturing dissent.
Multiple Attempts By State To Reduce Chancellor's Powers
While the Governor does face criticism from many quarters for going beyond his mandate to “interfere” in the matters of the state, the West Bengal government too, has also gone beyond its regular functioning, to clip his wings as the Chancellor of state-run universities.
Like in 2019, when a gazette notification said that all communications between the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor had to be routed through the state government.
The notification also said that the universities will have the power to call meetings of their highest decision-making bodies without consulting the Chancellor. It abolished the Chancellor’s Secretariat, curbed his powers to take action against or remove Vice Chancellors, and even reduced his powers in choosing Vice Chancellors.
Additionally, since the beginning of the Trinamool Congress regime in 2011, the government has been accused of various lapses in running their universities. This includes not handling student politics well, like the Hokkolorob movement in 2014, after police brutality at the Jadavpur University campus.
There have also been instances of the state government allowing law and order situations to develop in universities and not being transparent about the process of appointing Vice Chancellors and other administrative positions.
We tried to reach out to state education minister Partha Chatterjee for a comment on all of this but have not received a response to our interview request.
The Governor's meeting on 15 July saw just one Vice Chancellor in attendance, while others, once again, decided to skip the invite. Another battle of words between the Raj Bhavan and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seems likely, and with elections around the corner, this tussle will not cease any time soon.
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