Bengal readies Bill to replace Governor with CM as head of state universities

The chancellor is titular head of a state university. In almost all states, the Governor serves as ex-officio chancellor, and in this capacity appoints vice-chancellors of state universities and presides over convocation ceremonies, among other responsibilities.

In West Bengal, the Governor is chancellor of 17 universities, including Calcutta University, Jadavpur University, Kalyani University, Rabindra Bharati University, Vidyasagar University, University of Burdwan and North Bengal University, among others.

Bengal is one of the four Opposition-ruled states where the state government has been at loggerheads with the Governor on various subjects, including education. Recently, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have tried to curtail powers of Governors in appointment of V-Cs of state universities.

However, the Trinamool Congress government in Bengal, which had taken away the Governor’s authority in appointing V-Cs to state universities in 2019, has gone a step further and proposed to drop the Governor as chancellor of universities.

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was not available for a comment.

Defending the decision, a senior state government official said: “This is not new. Kerala and Tamil Nadu have already taken the decision to make the CM chancellor (of state universities). We have decided this as per the Punchhi Commission’s recommendation.”

The Commission was constituted by the Centre to look at Centre-State relations.

In April, the Tamil Nadu Assembly had passed two Bills that seek to transfer the Governor’s power in appointing V-Cs of 13 state universities to the state government, currently led by the DMK. This Bill, however, doesn’t remove the Governor as chancellor of state universities.

Maharashtra, too, passed a Bill that seeks to amend the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016, by primarily slicing the Governor’s role in appointing V-Cs. The Governor in Maharashtra remains chancellor.

The decision announced on Thursday is likely to draw fresh battle lines between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Dhankhar, who has repeatedly been accused by TMC leaders of acting at the behest of the BJP-led Centre. Dhankar, in turn, has often criticised the state government for disregarding his role in higher education. For instance, he had alleged that the state government appointed 25 V-Cs without his consent.