West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday said the activities of the State’s Vice-Chancellors Council are “in the nature of unjustified slur against his office”.

Mr. Dhankhar wrote a letter to Surjan Das, Vice-Chancellor of the Jadavpur University, who is president of Council (WBVCC) urging him to engage in a dialogue with him.

“The WBVCC activities have taken the shape of a slur campaign against the office I hold and such a stance is wholly unbecoming of the position the members of the WBVCC, including you, hold. Vice- Chancellors are expected to be role models in society by exhibiting exemplary conduct,” Mr. Dhankhar wrote to Professor Das. The Governor referred to the language employed in the resolutions, particularly with respect to the development relating to the Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University as “far distanced from decorum and fact situation”.

Earlier this year, the Governor had issued a notice to the Vice-Chancellor of the university raising questions on why he did not receive any notice or intimation about the convocation.

The WBVCC had also expressed reservations to a letter by the Governor which said communications required to be sent to him as the Chancellor should henceforth be directed to him and “not through any other authority”. In a statement, the WBVCC in June said “they perform their duties in consonance with the terms of the existing Acts and Rules issued from time to time, specifying the roles of the State government, Hon’ble Chancellor, Vice-Chancellors and other statutory authorities”.

In July, the situation aggravated when most of the V-Cs gave the virtual meeting called by Governor a miss and Mr. Dhankar said the education in the State was “politically caged”. Time and again differences between the Chancellor and the V-Cs have come to the fore. On certain occasions, the Chancellor was prevented from participating in the convocations of these universities owing to protests.