A prominent teachers’ body associated with Calcutta University has demanded the appointment of a full-time vice-chancellor, saying an institution with over 150 colleges cannot remain without a leader for long, even when it is ready to accept it. New education policy.
Professor Sonali Chakraborty Banerjee was the last full-time VC of the University. He first served from August 2017 to August 2021, and when he was reappointed again for another four years, Jagdeep Dhankhar, the then governor (and also chancellor) refused to sign the file, saying According to that criteria reappointment should be recommended. by a selection committee.
Mr Dhankhar returned the file thrice, after which the state government issued a notification that did not require the chancellor’s approval in the appointment, re-appointment and extension of service of vice-chancellors. In September 2022, the Calcutta High Court set aside his re-appointment saying that only the Chancellor has the authority to appoint/re-appoint a Vice-Chancellor.
Since then, Professor Ashish Chatterjee has been holding the three most important posts of Acting Vice-Chancellor, Pro-VC (Academics) and Pro-VC (Finance). His term as acting vice-chancellor – which cannot exceed six months – ends in April.
“After much delay, the Governor has finally given his assent to the Ordinance promulgating the constitution of a Search Committee for Vice-Chancellors. We have also seen the Chancellor demanding a weekly report from the officiating Vice-Chancellor. Calcutta University Teachers’ Association (CUTA) President Professor Mahalaya Chatterjee and Secretary Professor Sanatan Chattopadhyay said in a statement, “This tussle between the governor and the West Bengal government has resulted in a systematic lawlessness in the university.”
“The university’s autonomy in all areas of administration and delivery of education has been taken away by the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Act of 2011 and the West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Administration and Regulation) Act of 2017. There are deans in various faculties and the current deans are working on ‘acting’ basis and their terms are either extended or terminated arbitrarily.
“The Syndicate, the highest decision-making body of the University, does not even have the required number of members to constitute the minimum quorum in the meeting. But it is still churning out its proposals in an ad hoc manner. We have also seen an increasing trend of appointing faculty members to non-teaching positions… whereas there has been no recruitment of teachers in the university for the last five years.
He appealed to the state government and the governor to “bring CU out of its differences” and urged “every stakeholder in education and the general public to come together and raise the demand to resolve this long impasse at the earliest.”