Kolkata, June 13
The West Bengal Assembly on Monday passed a bill seeking to replace Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the Chancellor of all state-run universities amid protests by BJP legislators.
There is nothing wrong with the chief minister taking over as the chancellor, state education minister Bratya Basu said after introducing the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in the House.
“If the prime minister is the chancellor of a central university, why cannot the chief minister be the chancellor of state universities – Visva Bharati? You can read the recommendations of the Punchhi Commission…
“The governor, who is the current chancellor, has violated protocol on several occasions,” Basu said.
The bill was passed in the 294-member assembly after 182 members voted in favor of the law and 40 members voted against it.
Opposing the bill, the opposition BJP alleged that appointing the chief minister as chancellor would lead to direct “political interference” in the state’s higher education system.
“The state government wants to control everything. The decision to appoint the Chief Minister as the Chancellor of Universities is being taken to facilitate direct interference of the ruling party in the education system of the state,” alleged BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul.